The bacterial DNA load was not significantly altered in healthy volunteers’ airways after azithromycin administration.
We quantified the bacterial DNA of every sputum sample using droplet digital PCR system. There was considerable variation across individual sputum samples (first quartile and third quartile, 1.8 × 10Sputum bacterial DNA quantification using droplet digital PCR of the 16S rRNA gene. There was no significant difference in sputum bacterial DNA load across different time points in either the azithromycin group (A) or the placebo group (B) (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Bonferroni adjusted 