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Host Immunity and Francisella tularensis: A Review of Tularemia in Immunocompromised Patients

Tularemia, caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis, is an infrequent zoonotic infection, well known in immunocompetent (but poorly described in immunocompromised) patients. Although there is no clear literature data about the specific characteristics of this disease in immunocompromised patie...

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Autores principales: Bahuaud, Olivier, Le Brun, Cécile, Lemaignen, Adrien
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8707036/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34946140
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9122539
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author Bahuaud, Olivier
Le Brun, Cécile
Lemaignen, Adrien
author_facet Bahuaud, Olivier
Le Brun, Cécile
Lemaignen, Adrien
author_sort Bahuaud, Olivier
collection PubMed
description Tularemia, caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis, is an infrequent zoonotic infection, well known in immunocompetent (but poorly described in immunocompromised) patients. Although there is no clear literature data about the specific characteristics of this disease in immunocompromised patients, clinical reports seem to describe a different presentation of tularemia in these patients. Moreover, atypical clinical presentations added to the fastidiousness of pathogen identification seem to be responsible for a delayed diagnosis, leading to a” loss of chance” for immunocompromised patients. In this article, we first provide an overview of the host immune responses to Francisella infections and discuss how immunosuppressive therapies or diseases can lead to a higher susceptibility to tularemia. Then, we describe the particular clinical patterns of tularemia in immunocompromised patients from the literature. We also provide hints of an alternative diagnostic strategy regarding these patients. In conclusion, tularemia should be considered in immunocompromised patients presenting pulmonary symptoms or unexplained fever. Molecular techniques on pathological tissues might improve diagnosis with faster results.
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spelling pubmed-87070362021-12-25 Host Immunity and Francisella tularensis: A Review of Tularemia in Immunocompromised Patients Bahuaud, Olivier Le Brun, Cécile Lemaignen, Adrien Microorganisms Review Tularemia, caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis, is an infrequent zoonotic infection, well known in immunocompetent (but poorly described in immunocompromised) patients. Although there is no clear literature data about the specific characteristics of this disease in immunocompromised patients, clinical reports seem to describe a different presentation of tularemia in these patients. Moreover, atypical clinical presentations added to the fastidiousness of pathogen identification seem to be responsible for a delayed diagnosis, leading to a” loss of chance” for immunocompromised patients. In this article, we first provide an overview of the host immune responses to Francisella infections and discuss how immunosuppressive therapies or diseases can lead to a higher susceptibility to tularemia. Then, we describe the particular clinical patterns of tularemia in immunocompromised patients from the literature. We also provide hints of an alternative diagnostic strategy regarding these patients. In conclusion, tularemia should be considered in immunocompromised patients presenting pulmonary symptoms or unexplained fever. Molecular techniques on pathological tissues might improve diagnosis with faster results. MDPI 2021-12-08 /pmc/articles/PMC8707036/ /pubmed/34946140 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9122539 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Bahuaud, Olivier
Le Brun, Cécile
Lemaignen, Adrien
Host Immunity and Francisella tularensis: A Review of Tularemia in Immunocompromised Patients
title Host Immunity and Francisella tularensis: A Review of Tularemia in Immunocompromised Patients
title_full Host Immunity and Francisella tularensis: A Review of Tularemia in Immunocompromised Patients
title_fullStr Host Immunity and Francisella tularensis: A Review of Tularemia in Immunocompromised Patients
title_full_unstemmed Host Immunity and Francisella tularensis: A Review of Tularemia in Immunocompromised Patients
title_short Host Immunity and Francisella tularensis: A Review of Tularemia in Immunocompromised Patients
title_sort host immunity and francisella tularensis: a review of tularemia in immunocompromised patients
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8707036/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34946140
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9122539
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