Effect of anorexia nervosa on pulmonary immunocompetence.

Pulmonary infection due to opportunistic organisms and usually nonpathogenic mycobacteria may occur whenever immune defenses are weakened by external factors. These factors include neutropenia, treatment with corticosteroids or cytotoxic agents, previous antibiotic therapy, and nosocomial hazards (eg, catheters, ventilators). Nutritional deprivation is also often implicated as an important coexistent variable. An infection due to Mycobacterium xenopi (usually a nonpathogenic mycobacterium) in a patient with anorexia nervosa and no other predisposing factor for infection provides a model for discussing the possible effects of malnutrition on pulmonary immunocompetence. Since pulmonary infection in anorexia nervosa is often subtle, early evaluation of depressed cell-mediated immunity is appropriate.