Pneumocystis jirovecii Pneumonia in a Patient With Newly Diagnosed HIV and a High CD4 Count

Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) is a rare, life-threatening opportunistic fungal infection that rarely occurs with CD4 counts greater than 200 cells/mm3. We present a case of PCP in a young male who presented with fever, weakness, dyspnea, and a non-productive cough. He was initially treated...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inCurēus (Palo Alto, CA) Vol. 15; no. 10
Main Authors Koifman, Michelle, Vachhani, Bhavyakumar, Haridasan, Krishna S, Mansur, Mossammat
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Palo Alto Cureus Inc 08.10.2023
Cureus
Subjects
Antifungal agents
Antigens
Bronchoscopy
Cardiac arrhythmia
Case reports
COVID-19
Dehydrogenases
Disease prevention
Disease transmission
Drug therapy
Dyspnea
Fever
Infectious Disease
Infectious diseases
Internal Medicine
Laboratories
Medical imaging
Medical prognosis
Patients
Pneumonia
Pulmonology
Staphylococcus infections
Tomography
X-rays
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) is a rare, life-threatening opportunistic fungal infection that rarely occurs with CD4 counts greater than 200 cells/mm3. We present a case of PCP in a young male who presented with fever, weakness, dyspnea, and a non-productive cough. He was initially treated for community-acquired pneumonia but was then noted to be HIV positive with signs of immunosuppression such as oral thrush. The CD4 count was found to be very high, at 646 cells/mm3 and 281 cells/mm3 on repeat. The patient was treated with trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX) and fluconazole and further started on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) with TMP/SMX as a means of secondary prophylaxis in the outpatient setting.
ISSN:2168-8184
2168-8184
DOI:10.7759/cureus.46680