Lung cavitation in patients with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) has mainly been reported as single case studies. Among 160 episodes of PCP seen in a 1,000 bed teaching hospital and a 600 bed teaching hospital from 1985-1992, we found six cases presenting with lung cavitation and documented Pneumocystis carinii infection. In the cases we r...

The in vitro activity of lactoferrins alone and in combination with clarithromycin, minocycline and pyrimethamine was investigated against three clinical isolates of Pneumocystis carinii. Susceptibility was tested by inoculating isolates on to cell monolayers and determining the parasite count after 72 h incubation at 37 degrees C. The culture medium was supplemented with serial dilutions of ea...

The iron chelator deferoxamine and the polyamine biosynthesis inhibitor eflornithine (DL-alpha-difluoromethylornithine) were examined for anti-Pneumocystis carinii activity in the rat model of P. carinii pneumonia. The activity of deferoxamine at 250, 500, and 1,000 mg/kg given intraperitoneally provides evidence that iron chelation is a promising novel approach to P. carinii chemotherapy. Resu...

By using a recently developed PCR-solution hybridization enzyme-linked assay (PCR-SHELA), we investigated Pneumocystis carinii in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples and induced sputa of patients with pneumocystosis. In detecting P. carinii, PCR-SHELA proved more sensitive than immunofluorescence staining or a single PCR and significantly more diagnostically specific than a nested PCR. Our dat...

Eight patients with AIDS and Pneumocystis carinii infection were studied. Protean manifestations were a feature not untypical of disseminated pneumocystosis. Aerosolised pentamidine as prophylaxis against P carinii pneumonia was ineffective at suppressing dissemination. The knowledge that extrapulmonary infection can occur has implications for the detection and treatment of, and prophylaxis aga...

The technique of polymerase chain reaction was used to detect Pneumocystis carinii DNA in nasopharyngeal secretions of three infants with leukaemia who had the clinical features of P carinii pneumonia. The use of this non-invasive technique allowed the early diagnosis and treatment of these infants whose protocols did not include the use of prophylactic co-trimoxazole.

Sulfamethoxazole is the component of co-trimoxazole responsible for its efficacy against Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, but this drug is associated with frequent adverse effects. Sulfamethoxypyridazine is significantly more effective than sulfamethoxazole against a murine model of P. carinii and might be a candidate for testing in infected patients.

We describe the case of a pediatric patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) with an unusual large, fluid-filled intra-abdominal cystic lesion in which Pneumocystis carinii trophozoites were identified. Extrapulmonary P. carinii infection should be considered in the differential diagnosis of an intra-abdominal cystic mass in a child with AIDS.

1 Mones JM, Saldana MJ, Oldham SA. Diagnosis of Pnewnocysti.s carinii pneumonia. Roentgenographic-pathologic correlates based on fiberoptic bronchoscopy specimens for patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Chest 1986; 89:522-26 2 Hartman B, Koss M, Hui A, Baumann W, Athos L, Boylen T Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Diagnosis with b...

A simple, rapid procedure to separate Pneumocystis carinii obtained by lavage of lungs of steroid-treated rats from rat leukocytes is described. Commercially available monoclonal antibody to rat common leukocyte determinants is used to sediment the leukocytes, resulting in supernatant fluid containing P. carinii cells virtually free of intact rat cells.