Pneumocystosis diagnosed during pregnancy: case report

Abstract

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection has a broad clinical presentation, from acute to advanced stages of the disease. The average time between infection and emergence of disease in untreated individuals is about ten years. Opportunistic infections and malignancies are AIDS-defining diseases and, in these situations, TCD4+ lymphocyte count is lower than 200 cells/mm³. Pneumocystosis, a fungal pneumonia, caused by Pneumocystis jirovecii, is considered an AIDS-defining disease with high morbidity, mortality and severe clinical course. It is the most common opportunistic infection affecting immunocompromised patients. There are few pneumocystosis reports in HIV pregnant patients as, in this group, pneumocystosis is considered rare. We report a case in which patient had no prenatal care and presented pneumocystosis as the first clinical manifestation of HIV/AIDS.