Pneumocystis colonization in asthmatic patients not receiving oral corticosteroid therapy
Emma L Davey, Rhonda E Colombo, Charles Fiorentino, Gary Fahle, Richard T Davey Jr, Kenneth N Olivier, Joseph A Kovacs, Emma L Davey, Rhonda E Colombo, Charles Fiorentino, Gary Fahle, Richard T Davey Jr, Kenneth N Olivier, Joseph A Kovacs
Abstract
Pneumocystis jirovecii can colonize patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. To determine if colonization occurs in asthma patients, sputum samples from 10 patients with mild asthma, who were not receiving oral corticosteroids, were evaluated by a sensitive real-time PCR assay that targets a multicopy gene of P. jirovecii. 2 patients (20%) had Pneumocystis DNA detected; 1 patient had 3 positive samples over an 11-day period. Thus, Pneumocystis colonization occurs in asthma patients, and further studies are warranted to evaluate its role in airways disease.
Trial registration number: NCT01113034.
Keywords: Asthma; Lung Diseases.
Conflict of interest statement
Conflicts of interest: all authors, no conflicts
Copyright © 2017 American Federation for Medical Research.
Source: PubMed