Many parasitic opportunistic infections occur in AIDS patients. In a young female drug abuser, HIV-positive at the IV stage, a microsporidian was detected and identified in urine by cell culture in fibroblast monolayers (MRC-5) and formally recognized by electron microscopy. This parasite has been involved in hepatitis, myositis and malabsorption syndromes in AIDS patients. Its diagnosis is difficult and this is the first time that its replication has been reported in human diploid cells in vitro.