Cold Agglutinins in HIV-Seropositive Participants and Diagnosis of Respiratory Disease Due to Mycoplasma pneumoniae

• Published in: Journal of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (Chicago, Ill. : 2002) Ill. : 2002), 2009-07, Vol.8 (4), p.229-234
• Main Authors: Esaki Muthu Shankar, Vignesh, Ramachandran, Balakrishnan, Pachamuthu, Velu, Vijayakumar, Ponmalar, Esakimuthu, Murugavel, Kailapuri G., Saravanan, Shanmugam, Nandagopal, Panneerselvam, Hayath, Kownhar, Solomon, Suniti, Vengatesan, Appasamy, Usha Anand Rao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Agglutination Tests; Antibodies, Bacterial - blood; Cold Temperature; Cryoglobulins - analysis; Disease; Female; HIV; HIV Seropositivity - epidemiology; HIV-1 - immunology; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Male; Mycoplasma pneumoniae; Mycoplasma pneumoniae - immunology; Pneumonia, Mycoplasma - diagnosis; Pneumonia, Mycoplasma - immunology; Prospective Studies; Respiratory diseases
• ISSN: 1545-1097; 2325-9574; 1557-0886; 2325-9582
• DOI: 10.1177/1545109709337744

Objectives. Cold agglutinin (CA) titers are one among the first pathological indicators for diagnosing Mycoplasma pneumoniae disease. We prospectively studied the prevalence of CAs in 300 HIV-positive and 75 HIV-negative individuals with respiratory disease in Chennai, India. Methods. The cold agglutination test was used and retrospectively compared with the results of a particle agglutination test. Results. While CAs were positive in 51 HIV cases, particle agglutination test detected anti-M pneumoniae antibodies from 43 cases with HIV disease (P = .001). The seroprevalence of CAs was 2.6% (n = 2) among HIV-negative participants. The mean CD4 count in CApositive and -negative HIV cases was 107.4 + 121.2 and 259.2 + 247.2 cells/µL (P = .001), respectively. Conclusion. Our report suggests a basis for the existence of CAs in HIV-positive cases. Definitive diagnosis may be done only when CA detection is used in conjunction with a specific test.