[Radiological evaluation of the course of pneumocystosis (author's transl)].

Serial chest X rays were performed on 124 infants in an orphanage with endemic Pneumocystic carinii infection. The infection was serologically and autoptically proven in 98 cases. The interstitial infiltrate in the lungs is not specific for Pneumocystis carinii infection, but is the result of the host reaction, which persists after the antigen has been destroyed. The interstitial infiltrate is therefore neither time-related nor diagnostic and cannot be used as a guideline for therapy. The treatment of the patient is completed, while the unspecific infiltrations persist.