We describe three men with disseminated, drug-sensitive tuberculosis and advanced human immunodeficiency virus disease (CD4+ lymphocyte count, < 50/mm3) who had flares of tuberculous lymphadenitis with suppuration during the initial weeks of successful chemotherapy. Bactericidal drugs may kindle these transient exacerbations, which involve neutrophils but apparently do not require normal helper T cell function. In patients with AIDS, as in immunocompetent individuals, treatment-related flares of lymphadenitis are usually not an adverse sign, provided that drug resistance and nonadherence have been excluded.