[AIDS and the lungs]

Abstract

About half of patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) have an associated pulmonary disease which is more often due to infections than to tumors. Rapid diagnosis is important, especially in Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, since the prognosis depends on early treatment. A patient in good condition may be managed on an ambulatory basis. The manifestations of tuberculosis are often atypical, i.e. noncavitating with a diffuse infiltrate, hilar adenopathy and extrapulmonary foci. Treatment of atypical mycobacteria is not clearly effective and empirical treatment has little point since the resistance pattern is unpredictable.