Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Microbiology 2008-3289 7 6 2016 02 01 333 337 EN Elham Aboualigalehdari Department of Medical Mycology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. Ali Zarei-Mahmoudabadi Department of Medical Mycology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran AND Health Research Institute, Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Centre, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. Mahnaz Fatahinia Department of Medical Mycology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. Esmaeil Idani Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. 2015 10 10 2015 12 29 Background and Objectives: Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) is a chronic fungal infection that caused by P. ji- rovecii. 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 preva- lence of P. jirovecii among the patients with chronic pulmonary disorders in Ahvaz, Iran. Materials and 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). Conclusion: 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. https://ijm.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijm/article/view/127 https://ijm.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijm/article/download/127/537