A Rare Initial Presentation of Leukemia With Pneumocystis Jirovecii Pneumonia

Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) causes life-threatening respiratory failure in immunocompromised patients such as patients with HIV infection, hematologic and solid malignancies, organ transplantations, and autoimmune diseases and patients receiving immunosupressive medications. In HIV patients, PJP usually takes an indolent course while in HIV negative but immunocompromised patients, the disease is usually severe and is associated with a high mortality rate. A high index of suspicion and early institution of therapy is warranted. We present a case of life-threatening PJP as the first manifestation in a patient with undiagnosed acute leukemia. J Med Cases. 2016;7(5):181-183 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jmc2472w