Mycoplasmia Question

[StillHopeful]

Hi -

 

We just got our labs back and it showed a positive result for Mycoplasma LgG Interp and Mycoplasma IgG Ab EIA >3.19. Can anyone shed some light on this? The doc said he was pos for mycroplasma and is starting him on an antibiotic. What I should have asked but didn't was, what does this exactly mean? Is this an active infection or just the antibodies from a prev infection? I don't recall my son having any severe coughing or breathing issues or severe illness. He gets strep (Anti-DNAaseB was 146 ASO 146), "normal" sore throats, lots of ear pain/discomfort sometimes infections and what I thought were normal colds 2-3 x/s per year. Obviously I missed something. Is there a test I need to ask for everytime he has ear pain or a cold? Is there a way to prevent this?

 

Much thanks to anyone who can help interp and educate me on Mycoplasma.

[JuliaFaith]

Can only share our recent experience with ear and sinus pain along with increased stomache pain. Son was put on Biaxin which helped with symptoms and is now being treated for MaRCONs with BEG spray from Hopkinton Drug.

 

My son also muscle tested for mico. (after 2 neg. test) and has used a nebulizer and iodine for over 2yrs. Now.

 

Good luck with treatment.

[kimballot]

I'll take a stab at this. In a typical immune system, when someone has an infection, the IgM antibodies are large antibodies respond first to fight the infection, so a rise in IgM antibodies is generally interpreted to mean that a person has a current or very recent infection. Over time, IgG antibodies respond, and these antibodies hang around in the blood for a while afterward - in some cases for years - and are thought to provide protection if the person encounters that infection again. So, most docs interpret elevated IgG to mean that the person has had a past infection (especially if IgM is not elevated).

 

Mycoplasma is a tricky microbe. It seems that many of our kids do not generate elevated IgM - just based on reports from parents on this forum and other websites. It also seems that many of our kids have very long-term elevated IgG to mycoplasma (my own DS being one of them). Could this be because IgM never did what it was supposed to do?

 

This chronically elevated mycoplasma IgG has been interpreted differently by different doctors. Lots of PANDAS docs treat kids with elevated IgG with antibiotics, though other doctors may not do that.

 

To add to this - mycoplasma does not ALWAYS produce respiratory symptoms. (see http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/223609-overview )

 

So- your child could have had mycoplasma in the past or may have had it recently and may not have been symptomatic. He may not have produced elevate IgM or it could be that the IgM has dropped already. I suspect your doc will order follow-up mycoplasma titers to see if the IgG starts to drop with treatment.

[StillHopeful]

Weird -- I thought I responded to this post already! I must be losing it!

 

Thank you both for your responses.

[mommakath]

We have been dealing with rising IgG and IgM titers for over 2 years. Just this last month, after 2 years of ivig and increasing biaxin dose have we seen response. It was explained to me that since her IgG is still rising but her IgM has started declining that the body i finally reacting as it should and we are seeing response. Google Garth Nicholson and he has written and researched MycoP extensively. And, with all exposures, symptoms can disappear after 10 days while the bacteria remains active. MycoP symptoms overlap with Pans and Lyme quite a bit. Best Wishes!