Evidence map›Paper›PMID 20351205›Full record

ArticleJournal of clinical microbiology2010

High prevalence of dihydropteroate synthase mutations in Pneumocystis jirovecii isolated from patients with Pneumocystis pneumonia in South Africa.

Leigh Dini, Mignon du Plessis, John Frean, Victor Fernandez

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of clinical microbiology, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
17citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
2.3field-weighted citation impact, top 12% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 42 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Guideline
  3. Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Update on Dihydropteroate Synthase (DHPS) Mutations inJournal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021
    Review
  8. Article
  9. Microbiological findings in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from lung transplant patients in Sweden.Transplant infectious disease : an official journal of the Transplantation Society · 2018
    Article
  10. Article
  11. [Research progress on genes mutations related to sulfa drug resistance inZhejiang da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Zhejiang University. Medical sciences · 2017
    Review
  12. Article
  13. Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2015
    Review
  14. Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2014
    Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Leigh DiniDepartment of Parasitology, Mycology, and Environmental Microbiology, Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, Solna, Sweden. leigh.dini@smi.se
Mignon du Plessis
John Frean
Victor Fernandez
University of the Witwatersrand · ZANational Institute for Communicable DiseasesSwedish Institute · SE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. Sulfa-containing drugs are used for the treatment and prophylaxis of PCP. Mutations in the P. jirovecii fas gene, which encodes dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS), are associated with prior exposure to sulfa drugs, and their appearance suggests the emergence of variants with reduced sulfa susceptibility. The present study examined the prevalence of DHPS mutations in P. jirovecii strains isolated from South African patients with PCP. P. jirovecii infection was investigated by immunofluorescence microscopy and quantitative real-time PCR with respiratory specimens from 712 patients (93% of whom were >15 years of age) with suspected PCP consecutively received for the detection of P. jirovecii over 1 year. PCR amplification and sequencing of the DHPS fas gene was attempted with DNA from the P. jirovecii-positive samples. P. jirovecii infection was confirmed by immunofluorescence microscopy in 168/712 (24%) of the patients. Carriage of the fungus was revealed by real-time PCR in 17% of the patients with negative microscopy results. The P. jirovecii fas gene was successfully amplified from specimens from 151 patients and sequenced. Mutations resulting in the Thr55Ala and/or Pro57Ser amino acid substitution were detected in P. jirovecii strains from 85/151 (56%) patients. The high frequency of PCP episodes with P. jirovecii harboring DHPS mutations in South Africa indicates that populations of this fungus are evolving under the considerable selective pressure exerted by sulfa-containing antibiotics. These results, similar to previous observations of sulfa drug resistance in bacterial populations, underscore the importance of the rational use of sulfa medications either prophylactically against PCP or for the treatment of other infections.

Indexed as

Mutation, MissenseAdolescentAdultAgedAged, 80 and overChildChild, PreschoolDihydropteroate SynthaseDNA, FungalFemaleFungal ProteinsHumansInfantMaleMicroscopy, FluorescenceMiddle AgedDihydropteroate SynthaseDNA, FungalFungal Proteins

Identifiers

PMID20351205
PMCPMC2884465
OpenAlexW2110921561

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.