Pneumocystis carinii and cytomegalovirus pneumonia in a previously healthy adult.

A case of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and cytomegalovirus infection occurring in a previously healthy adult male homosexual who was not receiving known immunosuppressive therapy is described. This 35-year-old man had been treated with metronidazole and tetracycline for an intermittent diarrheal illness of 5 months' duration. He was then admitted to the hospital where he was found to have a small infiltrate in the left lower lobe, and this process soon involved both lungs. Initially, Pneumocystis carinii infection and later cytomegalovirus infection were diagnosed by lung biopsy and culture. Peripheral blood lymphopenia was present and he had in vivo and in vitro abnormalities of his cellular immune responses. He was unresponsive to Bactrim as well as pentamidine and pyrimethamine therapy and died 7 wk after hospitalization.