Case report: hypothyroidism due to pneumocystis carinii thyroiditis in a patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
Pneumocystis carinii is the most common cause of opportunistic pulmonary infection in AIDS patients and disseminated disease is being recognized with increasing frequency. We describe a patient with cavitary pulmonary disease, lymphadenopathy, thyroiditis, and associated hypothyroidism, all a result of P. carinii. The organism was easily demonstrated in a fine-needle aspirate specimen of the thyroid. This is the second reported case of clinically apparent Pneumocystis thyroiditis and the first reported case of hypothyroidism due to an opportunistic infection in a patient with AIDS. Clinicians should be aware of this entity and request a Grocott-Gomori methenamine-silver nitrate stain of appropriate cytology specimens to make the diagnosis.
Spitzer
R D
RD
Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Miami School of Medicine, North Miami Beach, Florida 33136.
Chan
J C
JC
Marks
J B
JB
Valme
B R
BR
McKenzie
J M
JM
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000150:complications*; D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D007037:Hypothyroidism / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D009181:Mycoses / Q000150:complications*; D009894:Opportunistic Infections; D011010:Pneumocystis / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D013966:Thyroiditis / Q000150:complications* / Q000382:microbiology