Date: Fri, 19 May 1995 13:36:20 +0500
From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com
Subject: CDC Nat. AIDS Hotline Train. Bull. #141


           CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
                       HIV/AIDS PREVENTION
           CDC NATIONAL AIDS HOTLINE TRAINING BULLETIN
.................................................................
May 1, 1995                                                 #141

This is an answer from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) to a question from the CDC National AIDS Hotline
concerning the cause of PCP.

NAH Question:

Our Information Manual states that the organism which causes PCP
is "most often thought to be protozoan in nature ... some
scientists have suggested that it is caused by a fungus."  Has
that organism been positively identified yet?

CDC Response:

The organism, Pneumocystis carinii, causes pneumonia in
immunodeficient persons.  Genetically, it is a type of fungus.
However, because most clinicians with expertise in Pneumocystis
carinii pneumonia (PCP) are parasitologists (rather than
mycologists) and the medicines used in treating PCP are
antiparasitic (rather than antimycotic), Pneumocystis carinii may
still be regarded as a parasite--even though this is not the most
appropriate designation on a strictly technical basis.