Chlamydophila pneumoniae and Mycoplasma pneumoniae in respiratory specimens of children with chronic lung diseases.
BACKGROUND
Persistent infection with Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Chlamydophila pneumoniae has been implicated in the progression or induction of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Evidence for this hypothesis has been obtained in adults either by serological methods or by direct pathogen detection using invasive procedures.


METHODS
We investigated nasal brush specimens and induced sputum from 38 children with stable chronic lung disease (asthma, n = 26; chronic bronchitis n = 12) and from 42 healthy controls for the presence of M pneumoniae or C. pneumoniae DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using nested primers.


RESULTS
None of the controls but 23.6% and 10.5% of the children with lung disease had positive PCR for C pneumoniae (p = 0.001) and M pneumoniae (p = 0.044) respectively. Significantly more children with non-atopic asthma than with atopic asthma were positive for C pneumoniae or M pneumoniae (4/8 v 1/18; p = 0.018). There were no unwanted side effects from sputum induction. No correlation was found between detection of Chlamydophila and severity of lung disease. Colonisation with both organisms had occurred before adulthood in a significant proportion of children with stable chronic lung diseases.


CONCLUSIONS
Combining nasal brush specimens with induced sputum may be a useful non-invasive method for studying the role of C pneumoniae and M pneumoniae infection in children with different chronic lung diseases.
Teig
N
N
Children's Hospital of Ruhr University, St Josef Hospital, Bochum, Germany. norbert.teig@rub.de
Anders
A
A
Schmidt
C
C
Rieger
C
C
Gatermann
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000382:microbiology*; D029481:Bronchitis, Chronic / Q000382:microbiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D023521:Chlamydophila Infections / Q000150:complications*; D016993:Chlamydophila pneumoniae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D009177:Mycoplasma pneumoniae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D009666:Nose / Q000382:microbiology; D011019:Pneumonia, Mycoplasma / Q000150:complications*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology
D004269:DNA, Bacterial