Thoracic actinomycosis and human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Despite the impairments of cellular and humoral immunity that accompany the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, there has not been increased evidence of thoracic actinomycosis. We report on a patient with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection who had pulmonary actinomycosis. We review the current ideas regarding this unusual pulmonary pathogen and offer possible explanations for its rare appearance in the HIV population.