[Crohn's disease].

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a unique bacterium that does not always receive the attention it merits considering the number of illnesses it causes and the degree of morbidity associated with it in both children and adults. Serious infections requiring hospitalization, while rare, occur in both adults and children and may involve multiple organ systems. The severity of disease appears to be related to the degree to which the host immune response reacts to the infection. Extrapulmonary complications involving all of the major organ systems can occur in association with M. pneumoniae infection as a result of direct invasion and/or autoimmune response. The extrapulmonary manifestations are sometimes of greater severity and clinical importance than the primary respiratory infection. Evidence for this organism's contributory role in chronic lung conditions such as asthma is accumulating. Effective management of M. pneumoniae infections can usually be achieved with macrolides, tetracyclines, or fluoroquinolones. As more is learned about the pathogenesis and immune response elicited by M. pneumoniae, improvement in methods for diagnosis and prevention of disease due to this organism may occur.

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Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Its Role as a Human Pathogen

Spectroscopic Tagging Lucas A. Lane,† Ximei Qian,† and Shuming Nie*,†,‡ †Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry, Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology, Health Sciences Research Building, Room E116, 1760 Haygood Drive, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, United States ‡College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, 22 Hankou Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province 210093, China

SERS Nanoparticles in Medicine: From Label-Free Detection to Spectroscopic Tagging.

The genital mycoplasmas represent a complex and unique group of microorganisms that have been associated with a wide array of infectious diseases in adults and infants. The lack of conclusive knowledge regarding the pathogenic potential of Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma spp. in many conditions is due to a general unfamiliarity of physicians and microbiology laboratories with their fastidious growth requirements, leading to difficulty in their detection; their high prevalence in healthy persons; the poor design of research studies attempting to base association with disease on the mere presence of the organisms in the lower urogenital tract; the failure to consider multifactorial aspects of diseases; and considering these genital mycoplasmas only as a last resort. The situation is now changing because of a greater appreciation of the genital mycoplasmas as perinatal pathogens and improvements in laboratory detection, particularly with regard to the development of powerful molecular nucleic acid amplification tests. This review summarizes the epidemiology of genital mycoplasmas as causes of neonatal infections and premature birth; evidence linking ureaplasmas with bronchopulmonary dysplasia; recent changes in the taxonomy of the genus Ureaplasma; the neonatal host response to mycoplasma and ureaplasma infections; advances in laboratory detection, including molecular methods; and therapeutic considerations for treatment of systemic diseases.

https://www.medica-tec.com/arg/files/ELITECH%20-%20Mycoplasmas%20and%20Ureaplasmas%20as%20Neonatal%20Pathogens%20-%20CLINICAL%20MICROBIOLOGY%20REVIEWS.pdf

Mycoplasmas and Ureaplasmas as Neonatal Pathogens

SUMMARY The history, replication, genetics, characteristics (both biological and physical), and factors involved in the pathogenesis of Mycoplasma genitalium are presented. The latter factors include adhesion, the influence of hormones, motility, possible toxin production, and immunological responses. The preferred site of colonization, together with current detection procedures, mainly by PCR technology, is discussed. The relationships between M. genitalium and various diseases are highlighted. These diseases include acute and chronic nongonococcal urethritis, balanoposthitis, chronic prostatitis, and acute epididymitis in men and urethritis, bacterial vaginosis, vaginitis, cervicitis, pelvic inflammatory disease, and reproductive disease in women. A causative relationship, or otherwise strong association, between several of these diseases and M. genitalium is apparent, and the extent of this, on a subjective basis, is presented; also provided is a comparison between M. genitalium and two other genital tract-orientated mollicutes, namely, Mycoplasma hominis, the first mycoplasma of human origin to be discovered, and Ureaplasma species. Also discussed is the relationship between M. genitalium and infertility and also arthritis in both men and women, as is infection in homosexual and immunodeficient patients. Decreased immunity, as in HIV infections, may enhance mycoplasmal detection and increase disease severity. Finally, aspects of the antimicrobial susceptibility and resistance of M. genitalium, together with the treatment and possible prevention of mycoplasmal disease, are discussed.

Mycoplasma genitalium: from Chrysalis to Multicolored Butterfly

Since its initial description in the 1940s and eventual elucidation as a highly evolved pathogenic bacterium, Mycoplasma pneumoniae has come to be recognized as a worldwide cause of primary atypical pneumonia. Beyond its ability to cause severe lower respiratory illness and milder upper respiratory symptoms it has become apparent that a wide array of extrapulmonary infectious and postinfectious events may accompany the infections in humans caused by this organism. Autoimmune disorders and chronic diseases such as asthma and arthritis are increasingly being associated with this mycoplasma, which frequently persists in individuals for prolonged periods. The reductive evolutionary process that has led to the minimal genome of M. pneumoniae suggests that it exists as a highly specialized parasitic bacterium capable of residing in an intracellular state within the respiratory tissues, occasionally emerging to produce symptoms. This review includes discussion of some of the newer aspects of our knowledge on this pathogen, characteristics of clinical infections, how it causes disease, the recent emergence of macrolide resistance, and the status of laboratory diagnostic methods.

Epidemiology, clinical manifestations, pathogenesis and laboratory detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is an important cause of respiratory tract infections in children as well as adults that can range in severity from mild to life-threatening Over the past several years there has been much new information published concerning infections caused by this organism New molecular-based tests for M pneumoniae detection are now commercially available in the United States, and advances in molecular typing systems have enhanced understanding of the epidemiology of infections More strains have had their entire genome sequences published, providing additional insights into pathogenic mechanisms Clinically significant acquired macrolide resistance has emerged worldwide and is now complicating treatment In vitro susceptibility testing methods have been standardized, and several new drugs that may be effective against this organism are undergoing development This review focuses on the many new developments that have occurred over the past several years that enhance our understanding of this microbe, which is among the smallest bacterial pathogens but one of great clinical importance

Mycoplasma pneumoniae from the Respiratory Tract and Beyond

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a common cause of upper and lower respiratory tract infections in persons of all ages and may be responsible for up to 40% of community-acquired pneumonias. A wide array of extrapulmonary events may accompany the infections caused by this organism, related to autommunity or direct spread. This review includes a discussion of the latest knowledge concerning the molecular pathological basis of mycoplasmal respiratory disease, how the organism interacts with the host immune system and its association with the development of chronic conditions such as asthma, recent emergence of macrolide resistance and the status of laboratory diagnostic methods.

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New insights into the pathogenesis and detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a minimal microbe with respect to cell envelope composition, biosynthetic and regulatory capabilities and genome size, yet it possesses a remarkably complex, multifunctional terminal organelle. This membrane-bound extension of the mycoplasma cell is defined by the presence of an electron-dense core that appears as paired, parallel bars oriented longitudinally and enlarging at the distal end to form a terminal button. Most non-cytadhering mutants of M. pneumoniae isolated to date exhibit defects in the architecture of the terminal organelle. Detailed characterization of those mutants has revealed the identities of many component proteins of the terminal organelle as well as the likely order in which some of those components are required. Additional questions regarding the composition of the electron-dense core, the means by which the terminal organelle is duplicated during cell division and the manner in which this process is regulated remain to be answered. Thus, it seems that there is much to be learned about cellular engineering and spatial regulation in these 'simple' cell wall-less bacteria.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1365-2958.2003.03899.x

Cellular engineering in a minimal microbe: structure and assembly of the terminal organelle of Mycoplasma pneumoniae.

Mycoplasmas are cell wall-less bacteria at the low extreme in genome size in the known prokaryote world, and the minimal nature of their genomes is clearly reflected in their metabolic and regulatory austerity. Despite this apparent simplicity, certain species such as Mycoplasma pneumoniae possess a complex terminal organelle that functions in cytadherence, gliding motility, and cell division. The attachment organelle is a membrane-bound extension of the cell and is characterized by an electron-dense core that is part of the mycoplasma cytoskeleton, defined here for working purposes as the protein fraction that remains after extraction with the detergent Triton X-100. This review focuses on the architecture and assembly of the terminal organelle of M. pneumoniae. Characterizing the downstream consequences of defects involving attachment organelle components has made it possible to begin to elucidate the probable sequence of certain events in the biogenesis of this structure.

Mitchell F. Balish

Papers

Epidemiology, clinical manifestations, pathogenesis and laboratory detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae from the Respiratory Tract and Beyond

New insights into the pathogenesis and detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections

Cellular engineering in a minimal microbe: structure and assembly of the terminal organelle of Mycoplasma pneumoniae.

Structure, function, and assembly of the terminal organelle of Mycoplasma pneumoniae.