Diagnosis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection by microparticle agglutination and antibody-capture enzyme-immunoassay.

The performance of two new commercial assays for the serological diagnosis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection (microparticle agglutination and antibody-capture enzyme-immunoassay) was studied using a panel of 169 serum samples from patients with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia and a control group. Both assays were shown to be sensitive and specific for diagnosis. The performance of the capture immunoassay, however, decreased in older patients, probably due to its inability to detect cases of reinfection without IgM antibody response.