Question:medium
Pneumocystis jiroveci is:
Pneumocystis jiroveci is:
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Think of the quick non-invasive first specimen used to demonstrate this alveolar pathogen.
Updated On: Jun 23, 2026
- Associated with CMV
- Diagnosis is by sputum microscopy
- Seen only in immunocompromised patients
- Always associated with pneumatocele
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The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Frame Pneumocystis jiroveci as an opportunistic fungus that lives extracellularly within the alveolar surfactant film and produces life-threatening pneumonia mainly in AIDS and other immunosuppressed states. Step 2: The diagnostic question is how the organism is found, and the answer is by demonstrating it microscopically in respiratory specimens; sputum is the quick non-invasive first step, BAL is the gold-standard mainstay, and transbronchial biopsy is reserved for when BAL is non-diagnostic. Step 3: Option c overstates the biology because serosurveys prove almost everyone is colonised in childhood; immunocompetence merely prevents disease, not infection. Step 4: There is no obligatory tie to CMV, and pneumatoceles, though they can occur, are not always present, so options a and d fail. \[\boxed{\text{Diagnosis is by sputum microscopy}}\]
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