Incidence of Mycoplasma Pneumoniae Infection in HIV Infected Patients With Underlying Upper and Lower Respiratory Complaints and Correlation With Various Immunological and Haematological Findings

Abstract

Materials and methods The present study has been carried out on 60 HIV infected patients presenting with underlying pulmonary complaints and whose clinical presentation was consistent with disease caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae, after obtaining informed consent subsequent to approval by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) on human ethics in Chennai where the recovery rates of Mycoplasma pneumoniae from induced sputum and throat swab specimens of HIV infected patients were compared and the haematological and immunological findings were analysed. Patients screened were from the age groups ranging from 15 to 60 years, whose respiratory specimens were cultured on PPLO glucose agar and broth, the later with 1% methylene blue. Presumptive identification of Mycoplasma pneumoniae was carried out using guidelines proposed by the Subcommittee on the Taxonomy of Mollicutes, 1979. The respiratory specimens from the HIV-infected subjects were later analysed for their recovery rates, incidence of other bacterial, fungal pathogens, AFB, Pneumocystis carinii and their correlation features with CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes were also analysed and compared.