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Clinical Trial
. 2017 Apr;65(4):800-802.
doi: 10.1136/jim-2016-000381. Epub 2017 Feb 13.

Pneumocystis colonization in asthmatic patients not receiving oral corticosteroid therapy

Emma L Davey  1 , Rhonda E Colombo  2 , Charles Fiorentino  3 , Gary Fahle  4 , Richard T Davey Jr  5 , Kenneth N Olivier  6   7 , Joseph A Kovacs  1
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Pneumocystis colonization in asthmatic patients not receiving oral corticosteroid therapy

Emma L Davey et al. J Investig Med. 2017 Apr.

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.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: all authors, no conflicts

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