The project “Developing knowledge involved in diagnosis and control of human-diseases related to pneumocystis” (“Delve-into-Pneumocystis”) was selected for funding in the latest COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) call funded by the European Union and had its first meeting in Brussels on October 23.

This new initiative “COST Action”, led by Dr. Enrique Calderón, will improve the prevention, management, diagnosis and treatment of patients with Pneumocystis infection through better integration of clinical knowledge and research.

In this action, led by Dr. Calderón, head researcher of the “Clinical Epidemiology and Vascular Risk” group at the Institute of Biomedicine of Seville (IBiS), professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Seville (US), and researcher at CIBER (Biomedical Research Network Center), groups from CIBER-BBN (Ramón Eritja and Jesús Martínez de la Fuente) and CIBERESP (Andrés Moya) will also participate and will establish collaborations between hospitals, institutions and companies through a structured, coordinated and open international research network with more than 60 researchers from 17 countries.

Pneumocystis pneumonia remains a major public health problem, especially in developing countries, where it presents high morbidity and mortality among immunosuppressed patients, mainly those with HIV. In developed countries, it continues to be common in people who are unaware of their HIV infection, who do not have access to antiretrovirals, who do not tolerate or do not follow chemoprophylaxis, and in cases where this fails, probably due to the development of drug-resistant strains of Pneumocystis jirovecii, a phenomenon that is also emerging threateningly in developing countries.

«European Cooperation in Science & Technology»-COST, is a funding agency for research and innovation networks. Its mission is to help connect research initiatives throughout Europe that allow scientists to develop their ideas by sharing them with their colleagues, boosting their research, their careers and their innovation.