title: The prevalence of Pneumocystis jirovecii among patients with different chronic pulmonary disorders in Ahvaz, Iran.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) is a chronic fungal infection that caused by P. jirovecii. Disease is more prevalent among the HIV-infected patients. The colonization of pneumocystis in human respiratory system is associated with the airway inflammation and obstruction. The current study was conducted to identify the prevalence of P. jirovecii among the patients with chronic pulmonary disorders in Ahvaz, Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the present study, 115 bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) specimens were collected from patients. Samples were subjected to Nested-PCR with specific primers. The second PCR products were used for sequencing analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our findings demonstrated that 31(27.0%) of samples were positive for P. jirovecii. Nine patients (29%) have tuberculosis (TB) followed by, 1(3.2%) HIV positive and 21(67.7%) miscellaneous pulmonary disorders. Our results show that there was no significant differences between sex (male:female ratio, 17:14), TB, HIV and P. jirovecii in BAL samples (P>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current study is the first report from Ahvaz and it showed a relatively high frequency (27%) of P. jirovecii among patients with different pulmonary disorders. In addition Nested-PCR might be reliable technique for diagnosis of P. jirovecii, while the Grocott's methenamine silver (GMS) have a low sensitivity, which only two positive patients were identified.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Mycology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
authors.forename: Elham
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aboualigalehdari
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Mycology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran; Health Research Institute, Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Centre, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zarei Mahmoudabadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Mycology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahnaz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fatahinia
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
authors.forename: Esmaeil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Idani
keywords: Ahvaz-Iran; HIV-infected patients; Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia; Tuberculosis