In this study, the performance of 10 serological assays for the diagnosis of
Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection was evaluated. A total of 145 sera from 120 patients were tested. They were obtained from patients who were serologically positive for M. pneumoniae
infection as well as from patients who were infected with micro-organisms that may cause
interstitial pneumonia. The following assays were utilized: SeroMP
IgM and
IgG, SeroMP recombinant
IgM,
IgA and
IgG, Liaison M. pneumoniae
IgM and
IgG and M. pneumoniae
IgM,
IgA and
IgG ELISA Medac. The SeroMP Recombinant and Liaison assays both showed low
IgM specificity, and crossreactivity was mainly observed in groups of patients with acute cytomegalovirus and
Epstein-Barr virus infections. For
IgA, the Medac assay was less specific than the SeroMP Recombinant assay. Discrepancies between the four tests were observed in
IgG analyses, and due to the lack of a gold standard, 22 results were removed prior to determining the sensitivity and specificity. Therefore, the overall performance of
IgG assays may be overstated; nevertheless, the SeroMP assay demonstrated a lack of sensitivity. The seroprevalence of
IgG appears to be very low, raising concerns regarding whether the serological techniques can detect
IgG levels over time. Serology remains a
biological tool of choice for diagnosing M. pneumoniae
infection, but improvement and standardization of the assays are needed, particularly for the determination of
IgG.