Inappropriate use of steroid and pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia: report of two cases.

Pneumocystis was first described in 1909 as an evolutionary phase in the life cycle of Trypanosoma cruzi by Chagas [1]. Later it was defined as a different organism [2]. Pneumocystis pathogenesis in humans was shown in 1951 for the fist time [3]. Recently, a species of Pneumocystis which afflicts humans was named Pneumocystis jiroveci [4]. Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) has remained as one of the most important opportunistic infections in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) [5,6]. In patients who have immune deficiency without HIV infection, pneumocystis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality [7,8]. In some studies, the use of steroids has been reported as a risk factor for PCP, particularly among patients suffering from cancer or connective tissue diseases [6–8]. In this article we present 2 cases of PCP that resulted from the incorrect use of corticosteroids.