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Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

¹ Department of Medicine, University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland
² Department of Pathology, University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr Andreas Himmelmann
Department of Medicine, University Hospital of Zurich, Raemistrasse 100, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland; andreas.himmelmann{at}dim.usz.ch

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) who have not been treated with fludarabin are rare, although clinically relevant CD4 T-cell depletion can occur in longstanding CLL without prior treatment with purine analogues. A 52 year old woman is reported who was on long term treatment with chlorambucil and taking a short course of prednisone for familial CLL before she developped progressive dyspnoea, and P carinii pneumonia was diagnosed in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Despite treatment with high dose co-trimoxazole the patient died.

Keywords: Pneumocystic carinii pneumonia; chronic lymphocytic leukaemia