• Swati Kumar, Stephan A Kohlhoff, Maureen Gelling, Patricia M Roblin, Andrei Kutlin, Simona Kahane, Maureen G Friedman, and Margaret R Hammerschlag.
• Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA. swati.kumar@downstate.edu
• Pediatr. Infect. Dis. J. 2005 Nov 1; 24 (11): 989-92.

BackgroundSimkania negevensis is a Chlamydia-like intracellular organism that is prevalent in populations from a wide range of geographic areas. The role of the organism in respiratory disease in the United States is unknown.ObjectiveTo study the association between infection with S. negevensis and bronchiolitis, pneumonia or asthma in Brooklyn, New York.Materials And MethodsPediatric and adult inpatients/outpatients with bronchiolitis, pneumonia or asthma were recruited, and a similar number of healthy control subjects were enrolled. Nasopharyngeal swabs were obtained for culture of S. negevensis and Chlamydia pneumoniae and polymerase chain reaction detection of S. negevensis. Sera were obtained for measurement of antibodies to S. negevensis and C. pneumoniae.ResultsOne hundred eighty-eight patients and 110 healthy control subjects were enrolled. S. negevensis serologic assays were positive for 18% of patients, compared with 29% of control subjects (P = 0.09). S. negevensis DNA was detected by PCR for 17% of case subjects and 23% of control subjects (P = 0.25). S. negevensis was isolated by culture for 1 patient with bronchiolitis. C. pneumoniae IgG and S. negevensis IgG were found to increase with increasing age, ie, 14%, 50% and 78% (C. pneumoniae) and 13%, 17% and 33% (S. negevensis) for subjects 0-18 months, 18 months-18 years and older than 18 years of age, respectively.ConclusionS. negevensis was not a significant respiratory pathogen in Brooklyn, NY, during the period of the study.

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