Pulmonary paracoccidioidomycosis misdiagnosed as Pneumocystis pneumonia in an immunocompromised host

Yeast cells of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis can resemble the cysts of Pneumocystis carinii in smears stained with Grocott's modification of the Gomori methanamine silver stain. Furthermore, P. brasiliensis can cross-react in material stained with a widely used P. carinii immunofluorescent stain which uses monoclonal antibodies. The need to differentiate P. brasiliensis and P. carinii will become more important as the increasing incidence of immunosuppression results in the reactivation of latent P. brasiliensis infections.