Detection of Pneumocystis jirovecii in Hospitalized Children Less Than 3 Years of Age

Estelle Menu (1) , Jean-Sélim Driouich (2) , Léa Luciani (2) , Aurélie Morand (3) , Stéphane Ranque (1) , Coralie L’ollivier (1)

1 VITROME - Vecteurs - Infections tropicales et méditerranéennes
2 UVE - Unité des Virus Emergents
3 Service de pédiatrie spécialisée et médecine infantile (neurologie, pneumologie, maladies héréditaires du métabolisme) [Hôpital de la Timone - APHM]

Few data are available in the literature regarding Pneumocystis jirovecii infection in children under 3 years old. This retrospective cohort study aimed to describe medically relevant information among them. All children under 3 years old treated in the same medical units from April 2014 to August 2020 and in whom a P. jirovecii evaluation was undertaken were enrolled in the study. A positive case was defined as a child presenting at least one positive PCR for P. jirovecii in a respiratory sample. Medically relevant information such as demographical characteristics, clinical presentation, microbiological co-infections, and treatments were collected. The objectives were to describe the characteristics of these children with P. jirovecii colonization/infection to determine the key underlying diseases and risk factors, and to identify viral respiratory pathogens associated. The PCR was positive for P. jirovecii in 32 children. Cardiopulmonary pathologies (21.9%) were the most common underlying disease in them, followed by severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) (18.8%), hyaline membrane disease (15.6%), asthma (9.4%) and acute leukaemia (6.3%). All SCID children were diagnosed with pneumocystis pneumonia. Co-infection with Pj/Rhinovirus (34.4%) was not significant. Overall mortality was 18.8%. Paediatric pneumocystis is not restricted to patients with HIV or SCID and should be considered in pneumonia in children under 3 years old.

Mots clés: Pneumocystis jirovecii; infants; co-infection; risk factor

Domaines: Bactériologie; Cardiologie et système cardiovasculaire; Maladies émergentes; Maladies infectieuses; Parasitologie; Virologie

Estelle Menu, Jean-Sélim Driouich, Léa Luciani, Aurélie Morand, Stéphane Ranque, et al.. Detection of Pneumocystis jirovecii in Hospitalized Children Less Than 3 Years of Age. Journal of Fungi, 2021, 7 (7), pp.546. ⟨10.3390/jof7070546⟩. ⟨hal-03421310⟩