Pneumocystis carinii is a pulmonary pathogen of immunocompromised humans or other mammals. Its infection results from activation of organisms involved in latent infection or from new infection through the air. Almost all children are known to be infected within 2 to 4 years of birth, though prenatal transplacental transmission has not yet been demonstrated. In this study we observed experimental P. carinii infection in neonatal rats, thus investigating the possibility of transplacental vertical transmission by Diff-Quik staining of the lung impression smears and in-situ hybridization for lung sections. The positive rate of P. carinii infection in immunosuppressed maternal rats was 100%, but that in normal maternal rats was 0%. Cystic forms of P. carinii were observed in three of six 1-week old neonatal rats born of heavily infected mothers, but none of them was positive by in-situ hybridization. Five weeks after birth, cystic forms were detected in four neonatal rats. In the lobes of the lungs, no predilection site of P. carinii was recognized. Counts of cystic forms on smears and the reactivity of in-situ hybridization in the lungs of neonatal rats were significantly lower than in maternal rats. The present findings suggest that P. carinii is rarely transmitted through the placenta and proliferates less successfully in the lungs of neonatal rats than in mothers.
Animal ; Animals, Newborn/microbiology* ; Disease Transmission, Vertical* ; Female ; Immunocompromised Host ; Lung/microbiology ; Male ; Opportunistic Infections/transmission* ; Opportunistic Infections/complications ; Pneumocystis carinii/isolation & purification ; Pneumonia, Pneumocystis carinii/transmission* ; Pneumonia, Pneumocystis carinii/complications ; Pregnancy ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

No abstract available.
AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections/epidemiology* ; AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections/diagnosis ; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/transmission ; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/epidemiology ; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/diagnosis ; Adolescence ; Adult ; Age Distribution ; Aged ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; HIV Infections/transmission* ; HIV Infections/epidemiology* ; HIV Infections/diagnosis ; Human ; Incidence ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea/epidemiology ; Male ; Middle Age ; Risk Factors ; Sex Distribution ; Survival Analysis

OBJECTIVETo understand the correlation between CD4+ cell count, HIV viral load (VL) and clinical characteristics among patients when HIV-1 was tested positive and initial AIDS diagnosis was made.

METHODS690 HIV-infected cases from Beijing Di-Tan Hospital were included and under a cross sectional study while SPSS statistical method was used.

RESULTSThe 690 HIV-infected cases would include 458 males and 232 females with age range from 2-72 years (mean age as 35.3). The modes of transmission showed that: homosexual contact taking up 17.5% while heterosexual was 16.7%. Most of the homosexual-infected ones lived in Beijing and most of them had bachelor or master's degrees. 19.4% of the transmission happened between heterosexual/bisexual couples, suggesting that HIV was transmitted through the "bridge population" while the rest were infected by contaminated blood/plasma. Many of the cases were identified when they lately visited the pre-operation surveillance point in the hospital. Serious immunodeficiency symptoms or signs were discovered as: CD4+ count < 50 cell/microl, serious opportunistic infections including pneumocystosis pulmonary, cerebral toxoplasmosis and cryptococcal meningitis. Higher frequencies of diseases seen were dermotosis, pneumonia, upper respiratory tract infection, hepatitis and digestive tract moniliasis.

CONCLUSIONBecause of the late identification of the disease, serious immuo-suppression situation often appeared, suggesting that there was an urgent need to improve STD/AIDS knowledge on those HIV (+) people so they might have an early access to accept medical care.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections ; diagnosis ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; CD4 Lymphocyte Count ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; HIV Infections ; complications ; diagnosis ; transmission ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Viral Load ; Young Adult