MYCOPLASMA PNEUMONIAE AND ADENOVIRUS RESPIRATORY ILLNESSES IN MILITARY AND UNIVERSITY PERSONNEL 1959-1966

Abstract

Based upon complement-fixing antibody responses from 1959 through 1966, M. pneumoniae was associated with 6.3% of upper respiratory illnesses and 44.3% of pneumonias in young airmen at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi. The incidence of pneumonia usually increased during late summer and fall, and fell during winter and spring when adenovirus epidemics occurred, being most developed during the 2nd to 5th month of training. In university students in New Orleans, M. pneumoniae was related to 3.0% of upper respiratory illnesses and 54.5% of pneumonias, but the latter appeared during 1 of the 4 years of observation from 1962 through 1966. Adenoviruses caused 22.7% of upper respiratory illnesses and 13.2% of pneumonias in trainees at Keesler Air Force Base. Half of these occurred during the 1st month after entry. Types 4 and 7 were recovered during the spring of 1960 and 1966, and type 4 alone during other years. Only 2.2% of upper respiratory disease was caused by adenoviruses in university students and only 1 student with pneumonia had an antibody response. During the last year, 5.2% of upper respiratory illnesses were caused by type 3 adenovirus in the fall and type 4 in the spring. Laboratory procedures for diagnosis of M. pneumoniae infection, including antibody response determined by complement-fixation, colony reduction, tetrazolium-re-duction-inhibition [TRI] neutralization, or recovery of the organism, did not detect all infections. Complement-fixation was most practical and as sensitive as TRI neutralization. A combination of these 2 determinations demonstrated the greatest number of infections, but still failed in a considerable percentage.