Model inputs: Personnel and time requirements and associated costs for laboratory procedures for diagnosis of Pneumocystis pneumonia. ¥Time estimated from starting sample to result ready to be reported. †Cost for personnel time is estimated as the amount of time a test takes excluding machine running times. We assumed that an average of five samples could be processed concurrently, dividing personnel-time costs by five. *Estimates not available from laboratories; values estimated by authors. CXR: Chest x-ray; DQ: Diff-Quick; GMS: Grocott's Methenamine Silver Stain; TBO: Toluidine Blue O; CW: Calcofluor white stain; IFA: Immunofluorescence microscopy assay; PCR: Polymerase chain reaction; nPCR: nested PCR; rtPCR: real-time (quantitative) PCR.
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