Abstract
Immune function and nutritional indices were studied in adult highland Papua New Guinea (PNG) patients with pneumonia, PNG highland controls and expatriate controls living in the Papua New Guinea highlands. Compared to PNG controls, pneumonia patients had higher serum immunoglobulin (Ig)G concentrations, higher salivary IgA:albumin ratios, lower total body weights and a haematological pattern suggesting iron deficiency. PNG controls and pneumonia patients had fewer circulating CD4 and CD8 T lymphocytes than expatriate controls. The proportion of lymphocytes carrying neither T nor B cell markers was higher in PNG subjects than in expatriate controls. These observations indicate that PNG adult pneumonia patients are a distinguishable subpopulation of PNG adults who may be more susceptible than the general population to pneumonia. Decreased circulating T lymphocyte numbers may be, or reflect, a separate risk factor for the entire population.
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