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Thorax 2005;60:962-966 doi:10.1136/thx.2005.041004
  • Paediatric lung disease

Chlamydophilapneumoniae and Mycoplasma pneumoniae in respiratory specimens of children with chronic lung diseases

  1. N Teig1,
  2. A Anders2,
  3. C Schmidt1,
  4. C Rieger1,
  5. S Gatermann2
  1. 1Children’s Hospital of Ruhr University, St Josef Hospital, Bochum, Germany
  2. 2Institute of Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany
  1. Correspondence to:
    Dr N Teig
    Klinik für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin der Ruhr-Universität, St-Josef-Hospital, Alexandrinenstr 5, D-44791 Bochum, Germany; norbert.teigrub.de
  • Received 31 January 2005
  • Accepted 7 August 2005
  • Published Online First 2 September 2005

Abstract

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 Cpneumoniae 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.

Conclusion: 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.

Footnotes

  • The study was supported by a grant from the medical faculty (FoRuM grant) of the Ruhr-University Bochum.

  • Competing interest: None of the authors has any financial interests in any of the diagnostic tools used in the study.

  • Published Online First 2 September 2005

This Article

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  4. All Versions of this Article:
    1. thx.2005.041004v1
    2. 60/11/962 most recent

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