Clinical and laboratory correlates of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in children infected with HIV
E. Connor, M. Bagarazzi, G. McSherry, B. Holland, M. Boland, T. Denny and J. Oleske
Children's Hospital AIDS Program, Children's Hospital of New Jersey, Newark 07107.
The case histories of 27 children with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP)
who were followed up in the AIDS Program at the Children's Hospital of New
Jersey, Newark, are reviewed. The mean and median age at PCP diagnosis were
10.8 and 7.7 months, respectively. All of the children had other clinical
evidence of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus that was
documented prior to the diagnosis of PCP or found at the time of PCP
diagnosis. Most patients who presented to the hospital were acutely ill,
and complications of treatment occurred in 70%. Overall, 89% of the
patients died and 70% survived for less than 6 months after diagnosis of
PCP. Median survival after the diagnosis of PCP was only 2.0 months and the
median life span of children with PCP was only 14.4 months. Only 40% of
children with PCP had CD4 lymphocyte counts at or below the threshold for
institution of PCP prophylaxis in adults of 200 x 10(6) cells/L (200
cells/mm3).
