Ten and a half years seroepidemiology ofMycoplasma pneumoniaeinfection in Denmark

Abstract

SUMMARYThe study was based on a computerized card index of 9161 patients who had at least one positive blood specimen in theMycoplasma pneumoniaecomplement fixation test. A total of 12562 specimens from these patients had been sent to Statens Seruminstitut from hospitals and general practitioners during a 10·5-year period. The period encompassed a previously described endemic period in a 30-year study of the epidemiological pattern ofM. pneumoniaeinfection in Denmark [1], The serological data presented support the hypothesis advanced here that a more than sixfold increase of children in day care might have contributed to a change in the epidemiological pattern. The correlation between age and level of specific antibodies, as well as persistence of seropositivity, were also investigated.