Pneumocystis carinii pneumonitis

Pneumonitis caused by P carinii has often been the first revelation of congenital immune deficiency disorders, cancer, or serious immunosuppression from drug administration. Its flair as a diagnostic indicator has recently been dramatically demonstrated with the devastating malady of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). At present, any adult or child with no known underlying disease who presents with P carinii pneumonitis will be suspected of having AIDS by the physician, the nurse, the aid, the medical student, and probably the janitor of most medical centers. Not since Legionnaires' disease has a pneumonitis advanced so rapidly to stardom. This prominence has followed over half a century of obscurity.