Pathogenesis of neurologic manifestations of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae has been associated with various neurologic manifestations, but exactly how the organism can cause such a wide variety of diseases is a long-standing mystery. In this respect, although pneumonia has been considered the hallmark of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection, emerging accumulations of data have revealed that the infection can cause a number of extrapulmonary manifestations even in the absence of pneumonia. The importance of host immune response in the pathomechanism of pneumonia has been established, but the pathomechanisms of extrapulmonary manifestations remain largely unknown.

Genotyping analysis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae clinical strains in Japan between 1995 and 2005: type shift phenomenon of M. pneumoniae clinical strains.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae clinical isolates obtained between 1995 and 2005 were examined to determine the prevalent genotype. One hundred and twenty-seven strains isolated from bronchitis and pneumonia patients were genotyped by a PCR-RFLP method based on nucleotide sequence polymorphisms of the p1 gene, which encodes the major adhesin protein. The typing results established that 66 of the isolates were group I strains, 45 were group II strains and 16 were group II variants.

[Utility and limitation of the rapid IgM antibody detection test for the diagnosis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection].

I evaluated performance of the Mycoplasma pneumoniae-specific IgM antibody rapid detection test (ImmunoCard Mycoplasma, IC, Meridian, USA) and compared it to the particle agglutination (PA) test and ELISA tests (Mycoplasma pneumoniae IgG, IgA, IgM ELISA medac, Medac Diagnostika, Germany). Serum samples numbering 112 were obtained from 70 pediatric patients (< 16 years old) with M. pneumoniae infection diagnosed by a PA test (four-fold or greater rise by paired serum samples or > or = 1:640 by a single serum sample).

[Evaluation of ELISA kits for detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae--specific IgG, IgA, IgM antibodies on the diagnosis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in children].

A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the utility of Mycoplasma pneumoniae IgG (quantitative), IgA (quantitative), IgM (qualitative) ELISA kits (Medac Diagnostika, Germany) for the diagnosis of M. pneumoniae pneumonia in children under 16 years of age. This study included a total of 159 serum samples from 113 patients with acute respiratory diseases such as bronchitis, pneumonia, which were classified into three groups according to the results of a particle agglutination (PA) test as a reference method, that is, Group I (Mycoplasma-definite cases): Group I-a (paired 52 samples from 26 cases); a four-fold or greater rise of antibody from an acute phase PA titer of < or = 1:80, Group I-b (paired 12 samples from 6 cases); a four-fold or greater rise of antibody from an acute phase PA titer of > or = 1:160, Group I-c (48 samples from 38 cases); a single high PA titer of > or = 1:640 either or both in acute or convalescent serum, Group II (Mycoplasma-probable cases, 18 samples from 17 cases): a PA titer of 1:160 or 320 was observed either or both in acute or convalescent serum, but the above serological criteria for Group I were not fulfilled, Group III (non-cases, 29 samples from 26 cases): a PA titer of any sample was < or = 1:80.

[Evaluation of a rapid IgM antibody detection kit for diagnosis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection during childhood].

We evaluated the utility of a rapid detection kit for Mycoplasma pneumoniae (Mp)-specific IgM antibody, ImmunoCard (IC) Mycoplasma Test (Meridian Bioscience, USA), with regard to mycoplasmal infection during childhood. For this purpose, 30 serum samples were obtained from 23 pediatric patients with serologically proved mycoplasmal pneumonia at and younger than 16 years of age. The diagnosis of mycoplasmal infection was made by means of a particle agglutination (PA) method, which was on the basis of 1) a four fold or greater rise with paired sera or 2) at and more than 1:640 with a single, acute phase serum.