Pneumocystis carinii— New Clinical Spectrum?

Abstract

PNEUMOCYSTIS CARINII has attracted widespread interest as the leading cause of fatal opportunistic infection in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), but the problems this organism can cause other patient populations have received less attention. In this issue of the Journal, Jacobs et al. describe a cluster of five cases of P. carinii pneumonia occurring over a three-month period in elderly patients without known predisposing factors.¹ This event is highly unusual and raises intriguing questions about host defense mechanisms, a new strain of P. carinii, and nosocomial transmission of infection. P. carinii causes pneumonia almost exclusively in the immunocompromised . . .