title: Seroprevalence of Mycobacterium pneumoniae in healthy adolescents in Taiwan.
abstract: This study was designed to understand the seroprevalence of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in healthy Taiwanese adolescents. The study included 2,233 college freshmen (female:male = 1.29:1; mean age, 19.7 years). The percentages of subjects residing in northern, central, southern, and eastern Taiwan were 66.91, 15.89, 9.0, and 8.2%, respectively. All enrolled subjects underwent a serologic agglutination test to detect serum concentrations of antibodies to M. pneumoniae. The test results showed that 19.84% of the subjects were infected and, of those, 6.0% were estimated to have subsequently acquired a current or acute infection during this study period. Moreover, the percentage of seropositive females (22.77%) was significantly higher than that of seropositive males (16.07%) (odds ratio, 1.54; 95% confidence interval, 1.241-1.911). Subjects residing in eastern counties were more likely to contract M. pneumoniae than those residing in other areas of Taiwan.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, College of Biomedical Science and Technology, Yuanpei University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. jameskung@mail.ypu.edu.tw
authors.forename: Chien-Min
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Kung
authors.forename: Hai-Lung
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009177:Mycoplasma pneumoniae / Q000276:immunology*; D011019:Pneumonia, Mycoplasma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial