lab results back

[karenm]

My grandson has positive strep titers and mycoplasma, got my results today. IgG 891 IgM negative Primary care doc say that this just shows that I have had an infection in the past. Do not need antibiotics. Does this sound right?

[norcalmom]

Your doctor could be wrong. If your child has had mycoP for a long period of time, or if they have had it several times, they probably will not make the IgM.

 

The only thing to do is to wait a 2-3? months ( I don't really know the period you need to wait) or so and to retest - then you can see if the mycoP went up or down. If it goes up - there is no dispute - you would then have definative proof of an active mycoP infection.

[fightingmom]

Your doctor could be wrong. If your child has had mycoP for a long period of time, or if they have had it several times, they probably will not make the IgM.

 

The only thing to do is to wait a 2-3? months ( I don't really know the period you need to wait) or so and to retest - then you can see if the mycoP went up or down. If it goes up - there is no dispute - you would then have definative proof of an active mycoP infection.

 

Thanks for this! I have positive IgG >5.0 with >1.10 being positive --- and husband just tested positive IgM - very high Dr. B's office said, but I forgot to ask numbers. They are treating him with Zithromax, but not me and I feel this is a big mistake. They also feel strongly that my son is reacting to my husbands mycoP because he is responding so well to Zithromax. I personally feel that treating both of them and ignoring me is going to prove to be a waste of time and ineffective.

Edited May 1, 2012 by fightingmom

[norcalmom]

I do not know why this interpretation is so prevalent among doctors. I've not only read research papers on the topic - but even MedLine will tell you that if your IgG is fairly high then you need to use it as a baseline to determine if its going up or down or stable. BUT - I had 3 doctors - including a Stanford immunologist and a pandas doctor - tell me that if he didn't have an IgM then he didn't have mycoplasma. My LLMD thought it might mean something, and a microbiologist that specializes in chronic mycoplasma is the only one that thought it meant that my son almost certainly had a mycoplasma infection.

 

I wouldn't assume you have it though. Mycoplasma is very common. And - it looks like you all probably had it - but your son could not get rid of it. But obviously you should be tested for it again.

 

IgM goes up at the beginning of the infection - but if you think it is a systemic infection that may have been present for years - they probably won't make IgM anymore.

 

Here is that summary and a couple excerpts, but you can google it and find all kinds of papers on it. I'm pretty sure that the company's that put out the tests specify this (otherwise there would be no upper range of "normal" for IgG.

 

http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/mycoplasma/tab/test

____________________________________________________________________________________________

 

"What does the test result mean?

Antibody testing

Significant concentrations of M. pneumoniae IgM and/or a four-fold increase in IgG levels between the initial sample and the convalescent sample indicate an active or recent M. pneumoniae infection. Increases in IgG, without IgM, can also be seen with a re-infection.

 

If neither IgM or IgG are present in detectable concentrations, then it either means that a person does not have an active infection, has not had a mycoplasma infection (recent or in the past), or that the person's immune system has not produced antibodies in response to the microorganism."

 

 

"Mycoplasma testing is primarily used to help determine if Mycoplasma pneumoniae is the cause of a respiratory tract infection. It may also be used to help diagnose a systemic infection that is thought to be due to mycoplasma.

 

Blood tests for antibody to M. pneumoniae

Two types of antibodies produced in response to an M. pneumoniae infection may be measured in the blood, IgM and IgG. IgM antibodies are the first to be produced by the body in response to infection. Levels of IgM rise for a short time period and then decline, often remaining detectable in the blood for several months. IgG antibody production follows IgM production, rising over time, and then stabilizing. Once a person has had a mycoplasma infection, they will typically have some measurable amount of mycoplasma IgG antibody in their blood for the rest of their life. In order to diagnose an active M. pneumoniae infection, a doctor may order both M. pneumoniae IgM and IgG antibody tests as acute samples and then collect another M. pneumoniae IgG test two to four weeks later as a convalescent sample. This combination of tests is ordered so that the change in the amount of IgG can be evaluated and because some people, especially infants and those with compromised immune systems, may not produce expected amounts of IgG or IgM."

[fightingmom]

I do not know why this interpretation is so prevalent among doctors. I've not only read research papers on the topic - but even MedLine will tell you that if your IgG is fairly high then you need to use it as a baseline to determine if its going up or down or stable. BUT - I had 3 doctors - including a Stanford immunologist and a pandas doctor - tell me that if he didn't have an IgM then he didn't have mycoplasma. My LLMD thought it might mean something, and a microbiologist that specializes in chronic mycoplasma is the only one that thought it meant that my son almost certainly had a mycoplasma infection.

 

I wouldn't assume you have it though. Mycoplasma is very common. And - it looks like you all probably had it - but your son could not get rid of it. But obviously you should be tested for it again.

 

IgM goes up at the beginning of the infection - but if you think it is a systemic infection that may have been present for years - they probably won't make IgM anymore.

 

Here is that summary and a couple excerpts, but you can google it and find all kinds of papers on it. I'm pretty sure that the company's that put out the tests specify this (otherwise there would be no upper range of "normal" for IgG.

 

http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/mycoplasma/tab/test

____________________________________________________________________________________________

 

"What does the test result mean?

Antibody testing

Significant concentrations of M. pneumoniae IgM and/or a four-fold increase in IgG levels between the initial sample and the convalescent sample indicate an active or recent M. pneumoniae infection. Increases in IgG, without IgM, can also be seen with a re-infection.

 

If neither IgM or IgG are present in detectable concentrations, then it either means that a person does not have an active infection, has not had a mycoplasma infection (recent or in the past), or that the person's immune system has not produced antibodies in response to the microorganism."

 

 

"Mycoplasma testing is primarily used to help determine if Mycoplasma pneumoniae is the cause of a respiratory tract infection. It may also be used to help diagnose a systemic infection that is thought to be due to mycoplasma.

 

Blood tests for antibody to M. pneumoniae

Two types of antibodies produced in response to an M. pneumoniae infection may be measured in the blood, IgM and IgG. IgM antibodies are the first to be produced by the body in response to infection. Levels of IgM rise for a short time period and then decline, often remaining detectable in the blood for several months. IgG antibody production follows IgM production, rising over time, and then stabilizing. Once a person has had a mycoplasma infection, they will typically have some measurable amount of mycoplasma IgG antibody in their blood for the rest of their life. In order to diagnose an active M. pneumoniae infection, a doctor may order both M. pneumoniae IgM and IgG antibody tests as acute samples and then collect another M. pneumoniae IgG test two to four weeks later as a convalescent sample. This combination of tests is ordered so that the change in the amount of IgG can be evaluated and because some people, especially infants and those with compromised immune systems, may not produce expected amounts of IgG or IgM."

 

 

Thanks for the info. that helps me a bunch. I do think my son and I have chronic infection -- I am always sick (son is my son with sinus infections), always fatigued, always aching and I have sinus (seemingly all the time)and bronchitis (1-2x)multiple times a year (now this could be because I just testing positive for lyme...or both..my CD57 came back @ 20 -- so I'm battling something), and my husband is currently showing high titers for active infection...I would be the only one out of the 3 that doesn't have active infection according to lack of IgM - but given my constant state and highly elevated IgG I think it's likely that I do. Seems dumb to me not to treat me given the severity of my son's behaviors, symptoms, etc. -- the risk of not treating me seems pretty high in my opinion. I am definitely going to have them test me again at our next appt! I also don't seem to show antibodies to vaccines, etc. - so I question if my body displays antibodies at all in some cases and believe the same to be true of my son. The two of us seem to have many of the same health issues and lab work that comes back very similar.

Edited May 2, 2012 by fightingmom