Inclusion Criteria
Concurrent Medication:
Allowed:
- Zidovudine (AZT). If AZT is started during the study, patients must have received = or > 15 days of aerosol pentamidine before beginning AZT.
Prior Medication:
Allowed:
- Zidovudine (AZT). If AZT began prior to study entry, patients must have received = or > 15 days of AZT before beginning aerosol pentamidine.
Exclusion Criteria
Co-existing Condition:
Patients with the following are excluded:
- Requiring ongoing active therapy for an opportunistic infection (O.I.) at time of entry or those with either of the following AIDS-defining O.I.'s prior to entry:
- Toxoplasmosis.
- Cryptococcosis.
- Transfusion dependent (requiring blood transfusion more than once per month). The last transfusion cannot have been given within 7 days of study entry.
- Pulmonary Kaposi's sarcoma (KS).
- Uncontrolled asthma.
- Active therapy for tuberculosis.
Patients with the following are excluded:
- Requiring ongoing active therapy for an opportunistic infection (O.I.) at time of entry or those with either of the following AIDS-defining O.I.'s prior to entry:
- Toxoplasmosis.
- Cryptococcosis.
- Transfusion dependent (requiring blood transfusion more than once per month). The last transfusion cannot have been given within 7 days of study entry.
- Pulmonary Kaposi's sarcoma (KS).
- Uncontrolled asthma.
Prior Medication:
Excluded within 30 days of study entry:
- Antiretroviral agents other than zidovudine (AZT).
- Immunomodulating agents.
- Corticosteroids.
Active therapy for tuberculosis.
Patients must:
- Have AIDS and recovered from their first episode of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP).
- Be at least 2 weeks and no more than 24 weeks status post therapy for acute PCP.
- Have positive antibody to HIV by a Government-approved ELISA test kit, or confirmed Western blot test.
- Adequate pulmonary function (vital capacity = or > 80 percent of predicted; forced expiratory volume (FEV), 1 s = or > 65 percent of total FEV; and corrected pulmonary diffusion capacity > 60 percent of predicted).
- Free of acute medical problems.
Active substance abuse.
Purpose
