diff --git a/sseclient/__init__.py b/sseclient/__init__.py
index 56171f9..2da259f 100644
--- a/sseclient/__init__.py
+++ b/sseclient/__init__.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ class SSEClient(object):
     specification.
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, event_source, char_enc='utf-8'):
+    def __init__(self, event_source, char_enc='utf-8', ignore_comments=True):
         """Initialize the SSE client over an existing, ready to consume
         event source.
 
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ def __init__(self, event_source, char_enc='utf-8'):
                            event_source)
         self._event_source = event_source
         self._char_enc = char_enc
+        self._ignore_comments = ignore_comments
 
     def _read(self):
         """Read the incoming event source stream and yield event chunks.
@@ -43,6 +44,12 @@ def _read(self):
         SSE delimiter (empty new line) to yield full, correct event chunks."""
         data = b''
         for chunk in self._event_source:
+
+            # yield comments
+            if not self._ignore_comments and chunk.startswith(b':') and chunk.endswith(b'\n'):
+                yield chunk
+                continue
+
             for line in chunk.splitlines(True):
                 data += line
                 if data.endswith((b'\r\r', b'\n\n', b'\r\n\r\n')):
@@ -54,6 +61,16 @@ def _read(self):
     def events(self):
         for chunk in self._read():
             event = Event()
+
+            if not self._ignore_comments and chunk.startswith(b':') and chunk.endswith(b'\n'):
+                event.event = 'comment'
+                event.data = chunk[1:-2].decode(self._char_enc)
+
+                # Dispatch the event
+                self._logger.debug('Dispatching %s...', event)
+                yield event
+                continue
+
             # Split before decoding so splitlines() only uses \r and \n
             for line in chunk.splitlines():
                 # Decode the line.
diff --git a/tests/unittests.py b/tests/unittests.py
index d19aa32..432aad2 100644
--- a/tests/unittests.py
+++ b/tests/unittests.py
@@ -15,9 +15,9 @@
 import sseclient  # noqa: E402
 
 
-def parse(content):
+def parse(content, ignore_comments=True):
     return [{'id': ev.id, 'event': ev.event, 'data': ev.data}
-            for ev in sseclient.SSEClient(content).events()]
+            for ev in sseclient.SSEClient(content, ignore_comments=ignore_comments).events()]
 
 
 class Parser(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -104,12 +104,27 @@ def test_ignores_comments(self):
                 [{'id': None, 'event': 'message', 'data': 'Hello'},
                  {'id': None, 'event': 'message', 'data': 'World'}])
 
+    def test_do_not_ignore_comments(self):
+        self.assertEqual(
+            parse([(b'data: Hello\n\n:nothing to see here\n\n'
+                    b'data: World\n\n')], ignore_comments=False),
+            [{'id': None, 'event': 'message', 'data': 'Hello'},
+             {'id': None, 'event': 'comment', 'data': 'nothing to see here'},
+             {'id': None, 'event': 'message', 'data': 'World'}])
+
     def test_ignores_empty_comments(self):
         self.assertEqual(
                 parse([b'data: Hello\n\n:\n\ndata: World\n\n']),
                 [{'id': None, 'event': 'message', 'data': 'Hello'},
                  {'id': None, 'event': 'message', 'data': 'World'}])
 
+    def test_do_not_ignore_empty_comments(self):
+        self.assertEqual(
+            parse([b'data: Hello\n\n:\n\ndata: World\n\n'], ignore_comments=False),
+            [{'id': None, 'event': 'message', 'data': 'Hello'},
+             {'id': None, 'event': 'comment', 'data': ''},
+             {'id': None, 'event': 'message', 'data': 'World'}])
+
     def test_does_not_ignore_multiline_strings(self):
         self.assertEqual(
                 parse([b'data: line one\ndata:\ndata: line two\n\n']),