Infectious aetiologies in elderly patients hospitalised with non-pneumonic lower respiratory tract infection.

Objective: to identify the infectious aetiologies of non-pneumonic lower respiratory tract infections in hospitalised elderly patients, and to characterise the patients in terms of demographic, clinical and therapeutic variables.

Design: a prospective, non-interventional, purely serologically based diagnostic study.

Setting: a tertiary university hospital in southern Israel.

Atypical pathogen infection in adults with acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma.

In a serologically based prospective study, acute infections with four atypical pathogens were determined in 100 adults hospitalized for acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma, and compared with the corresponding rate in a matched control group. Paired sera were tested using immunofluorescence or enzyme immunoassay methods to establish the serologic diagnosis. In 18 patients (18%), there was evidence of acute infection with Mycoplasma pneumoniae, compared with 3% in the control group (p = 0.

Serological evidence of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in acute exacerbation of COPD.

A prospective study was conducted to identify and characterize hospitalizations for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) with serologic evidence of infection with Mycoplasma pneumoniae (Mp). Two hundred forty hospitalizations for AECOPD were included in a 17-month prospective study. Paired sera were obtained for each of the hospitalizations and were tested serologically for Mp using a commercial enzyme immunoassay (EIA) kit.

Prevalence of antibodies to Chlamydia pneumoniae in an Israeli population without clinical evidence of respiratory infection.

Aims: To estimate the occurrence of recent, past, and "persistent" infections with Chlamydia pneumoniae--as indicated by serology--in an Israeli population without clinical evidence of respiratory infection.

Methods: Serum samples from 402 subjects (172 children and 230 adults), without known respiratory symptoms, were collected. Antibodies to C pneumoniae (IgG, IgA, and IgM) were evaluated using the microimmunofluorescence (MIF) assay.