Pneumocystis Carinii pneumonia (PcP) is a serious infection in people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It usually starts slowly and gets worse over days or weeks. In some people, it may get so bad that they need to be hospitalized or have surgery.
The most common symptom of PCP is coughing up sputum, or fluid in your lungs. Other symptoms are trouble breathing or chest pain. You might also have a fever and chills, and you might have trouble thinking clearly. Your doctor can help you find out if you have PCP by doing a test called a sputum culture.
Your sputum sample will be sent to a laboratory for testing. The technician will use a microscope to look at the fluid or tissue. If they see traces of the fungus, you will be treated with medicines to kill it. Your doctor might also do a lung biopsy to take a small sample of the lung and check for signs of PCP.
You can have this disease if you have an immune system disorder like AIDS, or if your body’s ability to fight infections has been damaged by cancer, radiation treatment, HIV, and other conditions. You might also have a heart problem or be taking medication that can make it hard for you to breathe.
This type of pneumonia is rare in healthy people. It most often occurs in people with HIV. It is less severe in people who have AIDS than it is in people who do not have the disease.
Pneumocystis carinii is a fungus that normally lives in the lungs of animals and humans without causing any overt illness until the immune system becomes debilitated, usually due to the presence of an underlying immune disorder. When the immune system is depleted, Pneumocystis can cause an infection in the lungs or other organs, such as the skin, spleen, heart, eyes or thyroid gland.
In some people with AIDS, Pneumocystis carinii can cause an extrapulmonary infection such as pulmonary oedema or disseminated histoplasmosis. These infections can be more serious and require hospitalization, but they are less common than pneumocystis pneumonia.
The spores of Pneumocystis carinii reproduce in the lining cells of the alveoli in the lungs of infected animals and people. The organisms clump and form a cellular mass, which eventually fills the alveoli. The resulting lung fluid is foamy and proteinaceous, and the organisms appear as tiny bubbles in the liquid.
They can live for years or even decades in the lung. The spores can become large enough to release from the spore case, and when they do, they can irritate the airway and lungs. This can lead to pneumonia, or a life-threatening condition known as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
Your doctor might prescribe antifungal medicine or a combination of antibiotics, as well as other medicines to treat your immune system and prevent the fungus from growing in your lungs again. You might also need antibiotics or corticosteroids, which can help control inflammation in your lungs.
