TY - JOUR AU - Berger, Pierre AU - Papazian, Laurent AU - Drancourt, Michel AU - La Scola, Bernard AU - Auffray, Jean-Pierre AU - Raoult, Didier T1 - Ameba-associated Microorganisms and Diagnosis of Nosocomial Pneumonia T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2006 VL - 12 IS - 2 SP - 248 SN - 1080-6059 AB - To elucidate the role of ameba-associated microorganisms (AAMs) as etiologic agents of pneumonia, we screened for Legionella spp., Parachlamydia acanthamoeba, Afipia sp., Bosea spp., Bradyrhizobium spp., Mesorhizobium amorphae, Rasbo bacterium, Azorhizobium caulinodans, Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus, and conventional microorganisms in 210 pneumonia patients in intensive-care units by using culture, polymerase chain reaction, and serologic testing. These resulted in 59 diagnoses in 40 patients. AAMs and non-AAMs were implicated in 10.5% of the patients. The infectious agents were identified in 15 patients: Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus, 8; Legionella pneumophila, 3; L. anisa, 1; Parachlamydia sp., 1; Bosea massiliensis, L. worsleiensis, L. quinlivanii, and L. rubrilucens, 1; and M. amorphae and R. bacterium, 1. A. polyphaga mimivirus was the fourth most common etiologic agent, with a higher seroprevalence than noted in healthy controls. This finding suggested its clinical relevance. Therefore, AAM might cause nosocomial pneumonia and should be suspected when conventional microbiologic results are negative. KW - Pneumonia KW - ameba-associated microorganisms KW - laboratory techniques and procedures KW - intensive care unit KW - prospective studies KW - research KW - France DO - 10.3201/eid1202.050434 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/2/05-0434_article ER - End of Reference