PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Emma L Davey AU - Rhonda E Colombo AU - Charles Fiorentino AU - Gary Fahle AU - Richard T Davey, Jr AU - Kenneth N Olivier AU - Joseph A Kovacs TI - <em>Pneumocystis</em> colonization in asthmatic patients not receiving oral corticosteroid therapy AID - 10.1136/jim-2016-000381 DP - 2017 Apr 01 TA - Journal of Investigative Medicine PG - 800--802 VI - 65 IP - 4 4099 - http://hw-f5-jim.highwire.org/content/65/4/800.short 4100 - http://hw-f5-jim.highwire.org/content/65/4/800.full SO - J Investig Med2017 Apr 01; 65 AB - 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.