Inclusion Criteria

Concurrent Medication:

Allowed:

• Erythropoietin.
• Maintenance treatment with investigational triazoles (e.g., itraconazole).
• Antiemetics for nausea/vomiting, antihistamines for rash/pruritus, antipyretics for systemic symptoms (fever, headache, etc.) should be used for treatment of symptoms.
• Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agents may be used for control of myalgias, headache, etc.

Concurrent Treatment:

Allowed:

• Blood transfusions.

Patients must have the following:

• Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia.
• HIV infection.
• Willing and able to sign informed consent. Patients under 18 years of age may enter with consent of parent or guardian.

Prior Medication:

Allowed:

• Up to 24 hours of treatment with sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim (SMX/TMP), dapsone / trimethoprim, or clindamycin / primaquine, or one dose of pentamidine for this episode of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP).
• Prior PCP prophylaxis.

Required:

• Adjunctive prednisone therapy in patients with (A-a) DO2 of 35 - 45 torr receiving acute anti-PCP treatment.

Exclusion Criteria

Co-existing Condition:

Patients with the following conditions and diseases are excluded:

Positive screen for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency.

• Known NAD methemoglobin reductase deficiency and/or known hemoglobin M abnormality.

Concurrent Medication:

Excluded:

• Zidovudine (AZT).
• Ganciclovir.
• GM-CSF or G-CSF. Rifampin.
• Rifabutin.
• Corticosteroids (in patients with baseline (A-a) DO2 < 35 torr). Investigational drugs not specifically allowed.
• Folinic acid.

Patients with the following are excluded:

• Previous dose-limiting intolerance to sulfones, trimethoprim, clindamycin, or primaquine.

Requirement for other medications potentially effective in the treatment of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) (e.g., pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine).

• Prior enrollment in ACTG 108. Presence of other concurrent pulmonary pathology that would make interpretation of response to antipneumocystis therapy difficult.

Inability to take oral therapy.

Prior Medication:

Excluded:

• Acute treatment doses of anti-Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia agents within 30 days prior to study entry except as noted above.
• Systemic steroids above adrenal replacement doses within 7 days prior to study entry (except for patients with (A-a) DO2 of 35 - 45 torr who receive prednisone in conjunction with acute anti-PCP treatment).