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We retrospectively examined 39 patients with AIDS and central nrvous system toxoplasmosis in order to determine the efficacy and safety of two combinations: pyrimethamine-sulfadiazine and pyrimethamine-clindamycin. The results showed a response rate of 79% for the sulfadiazine association and a high failure rate in the clindamycin group. Side effects with sulfadiazine were slightly more frequent, but with desensitization protocols discontinuation was kept down. The combination of pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine, associated, when necessary, with desensitization schedules, was confirmed to be first choice therapy for cerebral toxoplasmosis in AIDS patients. The role of alternative regimens needs further evaluation.

Fifty-five episodes of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) in AIDS patients were evaluated to assess clinical and laboratory risk factors predicting the probability of surviving the acute episode of PCP and the long-term survival after PCP. Age > 45 yrs, PaO2 < 50 mmHg, AaPO2 > 50 mmHg, and LDH > 800 IU/L correlated strongly with early mortality; patients who needed mechanical ventilation had a significantly lower PaO2 and serum albumin, and higher AaPO2 and LDH compared to the patients who did not. Neither age nor PaO2, AaPO2, LDH, albumin, days from onset, time for recovery, CD4+ cell count correlated with long-term survival of AIDS patients with PCP. Informations obtained at initial presentation of PCP may predict early outcome and influence therapeutic approach, improving chances for survival.

Mycological, cultural and/or serological studies were performed on 98 patients hospitalized in the Department of Infectious Diseases of the Catholic University in Rome with diagnoses of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or AIDS-related complex (ARC) diseases.

Several methods to increase the sensitivity of JC virus (JCV) DNA detection in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for a noninvasive diagnosis of AIDS-related progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) were investigated. When CSF collected at clinical presentation was tested, JCV DNA was detected in 8 of 19 patients with PML by standard PCR (sensitivity, 42%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 21 to 66%) and in 14 of 19 by nested PCR (sensitivity, 74% [95% CI, 49 to 90%]; P = 0.014 [McNemar's test]. For multiple serial CSF samples, standard PCR yielded JCV DNA for 11 of 19 PML patients (sensitivity, 58% [95% CI, 34 to 79%]) and nested PCR yielded JCV DNA for 17 of 19 patients (sensitivity, 90% [95% CI, 66 to 98%]; P = 0.014). The majority of the false-negative samples were found to contain PCR inhibitors. Standard PCR did not detect JCV DNA in CSF from any of the 83 AIDS patients with other diagnosis (100% specificity [95% CI, 95 to 100%]); JCV DNA was found in CSF from one control patient by nested PCR (99% specificity [95% CI, 93 to 100%]).