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Immunology of Pneumocystis carinii

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Immunology of Human Infection

Part of the book series: Comprehensive Immunology ((COMIMUN,volume 9))

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Abstract

The relationship between Pneumocystis carinii and its mammaliam hosts is remarkably unique. In the severely immunosuppressed animal or human, infection from P. carinii, even when fatal, remains localized to the lung. With rare exception, the pneumonitis is encountered exclusively in the compromised host. Whereas the organism was recognized as a cause of interstitial plasma cell pneumonitis in premature and debilitated infants in Europe following World War II, the epidemics of this disease had ceased by 1960. However, for the past two decades the disease has emerged in the United States, affecting predominantly immunocompromised children and adults with cancer, congenital immunodeficiency disorders, and organ transplantation.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Walter T. Hughes

    Present address: Division of Infectious Diseases, St. Jude’s Research Center, 38101, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eudowood Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 21205, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Walter T. Hughes

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  1. Walter T. Hughes
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    André J. Nahmias

  2. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA

    Richard J. O’Reilly

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© 1982 Plenum Publishing Corporation

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Hughes, W.T. (1982). Immunology of Pneumocystis carinii . In: Nahmias, A.J., O’Reilly, R.J. (eds) Immunology of Human Infection. Comprehensive Immunology, vol 9. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-1012-9_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-1012-9_15

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-1014-3

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