Unique susceptibility of patients with antibody deficiency to mycoplasma infection.
Patients with congenital or acquired disorders of antibody production suffer from a wide variety of infections. They are most often bacterial and due to Haemophilus influenzae or Streptococcus pneumoniae. Chronic pulmonary disease accounts for most of the deaths. While non-urogenital tract infections due to Ureaplasma urealyticum or other mycoplasmas are unusual in individuals with normal resistance, patients with antibody deficiency demonstrate a unique susceptibility. With increasing frequency, patients with impaired humoral immunity have been shown to have a mycoplasmal infection that results in pneumonitis, sinusitis, cystitis, arthritis, osteomyelitis, or cellulitis. The mycoplasmas may be responsible for chronic sinopulmonary disease in a majority of such patients. Awareness of the role these organisms play in causing infection in antibody-deficient patients and the institution of appropriate antibiotic therapy will contribute to an improvement in clinical outcome.
Gelfand
E W
EW
Department of Pediatrics, National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, Denver, Colorado 80224.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D016756:Immunoglobulins, Intravenous / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007153:Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D009175:Mycoplasma Infections / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D011019:Pneumonia, Mycoplasma / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D016869:Ureaplasma Infections / Q000209:etiology; D016990:Ureaplasma urealyticum
D016756:Immunoglobulins, Intravenous