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Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) in undiagnosed HIV-positive individuals and COVID-19 patients share many of the same clinical features. This case report describes two patients admitted to hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both suffered from dyspnoea, dry cough and fever, showed signs of underlying illness and had severe hypoxia, elevated lactate dehydrogenase levels and lymfocytopenia. COVID-19 was suspected despite several negative tests. Both patients tested positive for PCP and HIV. In cases with unexplained interstitial pneumonia, PCP and underlying immunodeficiency should be suspected, and an HIV-test should be performed.

Danish official guidelines recommend that women belonging to risk groups should be offered HIV testing during pregnancy. Universal HIV testing during antenatal care is not required. We describe three infants with vertically acquired HIV infection born to mothers, who, despite belonging to high-risk groups (one from Thailand, two from Sub-Saharan Africa), had not been offered an HIV test during pregnancy. The infants, born within a one-year period, presented with AIDS-defining symptoms during their first months of life. Two children had Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and one had severe failure to thrive. These cases demonstrate that a significant number, perhaps up to 20% of women with known risk factors, are not HIV-tested during pregnancy. Thus, selective screening for HIV during pregnancy is ineffective and should be replaced by a universal offer of an HIV test.

Since the diagnosis of AIDS was first made, a lot of efforts have been made to improve survival. Different studies have found varied results, both geographically as well as over periods of time. During the period 1.1.1985 to 31.12.1993 142 patients that were HIV-positive were seen in the geographically well defined area of Funen. During the period 1.1.1985 to 31.12.1990 the median time elapsed between the patient being found to be HIV-positive and the patient presenting with an AIDS-defining disease was found to be 8.8 years. In the period 1.1.1991 to 31.12.1993 it was 2.6 years (95% CL 1,3-?). The AIDS defining diseases were Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in 43% of the cases, and oesophageal candidiasis in 24%. The median survival time after being diagnosed with AIDS was 2.0 years (95% CL 1,7-2,4). Heterosexual infection seems more pronounced in our material than for the country as a whole.

We analyzed prospectively collected data from 211 HIV-infected patients who underwent bronchoscopy because of pulmonary symptoms during the period 1989-1991. We found an improvement in survival for patients diagnosed with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) in 1991 as compared to 1989 and 1990 (log rank test: p = 0.07). A significant decline in PO2 and CD4 cell count was observed in patients with PCP in the same period (p < 0.05 and 0.005 respectively). We suggest that the decline in CD4 cell count and in PO2 may reflect a change in Pneumocystis carinii transmission, and that the improved survival may be a result of altered treatment strategy of PCP.

Fifty-nine HIV-1 infected patients with a microscopically proven first episode of moderate to severe Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) were enrolled into a randomized European multicenter study. The effect of adjunctive corticosteroid (CS) therapy was assessed on: 1) survival to discharge, 2) need for mechanical ventilation (MV) and 3) survival at day 90. CS was given within 24 hours of standard therapy as intravenous methylprednisolone 2 mg/kg bodyweight daily for ten days. All patients received cotrimoxazole as standard treatment. Inclusion criteria were a PaO2 < 9.0 kPa (67.5 mmHg) and/or a PaCO2 < 4.0 kPa (30.0 mmHg). During the acute episode of PCP nine (31%) of the 29 control patients died versus three (10%) of the 30 CS patients; p = 0.01. Mechanical ventilation was necessary in 15 patients; 12 (41%) in the control group and three (10%) in the KS group; p = 0.01. The 90-day survival was 69% in patients receiving cotrimoxazole alone versus 87% in patients receiving adjunctive KS; p = 0.07. Based on these data we conclude that adjunctive CS therapy for moderate to severe PCP in AIDS-patients reduces the acute mortality and the need for mechanical ventilation.

A case of a 44 year old male AIDS patient with multimicrobial lung infection is presented. Six possible pathogens were found and the relative importance of these is discussed. An active diagnostic and therapeutic approach is recommended when treating AIDS patients with pneumonia.

The object of investigation is to illustrate the values of two noninvasive procedures: the induced sputum test and the exercise test in the diagnosis of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). Both of the procedures are described. Fifty HIV-positive men in whom interstitial pneumonia was suspected participated. PCP was diagnosed in 16 patients, in ten of these by the induced sputum test, the sensitivity of which is, therefore, 35-85% (95% confidence limits). The exercise test, an investigation for demonstration of exercise induced oxygen desaturation, was of good predictive value. Thus, seven out of nine patients with positive exercise test results had PCP as compared with two out of 19 with normal exercise test results, p = 0.0009. The sensitivity was thus 40-97%. In five out of the six patients with false negative results to the induced sputum test, the exercise test was performed and was positive in all of the case. The method is rapid and simple and merely requires access to an exercycle and a pulse-oxymeter preferably with a recorder. It is concluded that the exercise test and the induced sputum test are valuable investigations which supplement one another in cases of suspected PCP and which avoid the need for bronchoscopy in 53-80% of the patients.

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia continues to be the commonest opportunistic infection seen in AIDS patients. Early diagnosis and treatment have caused the one-year survival in AIDS-patients with PCP to increase steadily. However, PCP is still the cause of death in 25% of the AIDS-patients. Secondary prophylaxis with pentamidine-isethionate inhalations has reduced the risk of PCP relapse considerably. The risk of PCP is markedly increased at CD4-cell counts below 200 mio/l. Therefore, inhalations of pentamidine twice monthly, as a primary prophylaxis against PCP, can be recommended in HIV-positive patients with CD4-cell counts below this level.