Abstract

Serum antibody responses of divers to waterborne pathogens. G A Losonsky , J A Hasan , A Huq , S Kaintuck , and R R Colwell Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore 21201, USA. ABSTRACT To assess the significance of exposure of divers to waterborne pathogens, specific immunoglobulin G serum antibody responses to Pseudomonas and Aeromonas isolates recovered from dive sites from the respiratory tracts of nine experienced divers and seven diving trainees working in the Chesapeake Bay area over a 6- to 18-month period were measured. A significant increase in the frequency of isolation of these organisms from respiratory surfaces both groups of divers after each dive was noted, with the divers' ears being the predominant recovery site (48%; P < 10(-8), chi-square). The acute serum responses of the majority of experienced divers (83%) showed evidence of preexisting antibody to these potential pathogens, whereas the acute serum response of only 32% of naive divers showed such evidence (P < 10(-8), chi-square). Six months into their training, the rate of seroresponse of the trainees to organisms recovered after their first dives increased to 61% (P = 0.003, chi-square), suggesting that repeated exposure in necessary for generation of a specific systemic immunologic response. The rate of acquisition of a new seroresponse to recovered organisms was approximately 12% per dive for both groups of divers, suggesting that there is continuous exposure to, and infection with, new strains present in the water during dives. These data suggest that, in cases in which systemic antibody is important for protection, there are various levels of susceptibility to waterborne potential pathogens in both experienced and inexperienced divers. CiteULike Connotea Delicious Digg Facebook Google+ Mendeley Reddit StumbleUpon Twitter What's this? « Previous | Next Article » Table of Contents This Article Clin Vaccine Immunol March 1994 vol. 1 no. 2 182-185 » Abstract PDF Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in ASM journals Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of CVI Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Load citing article information Citing articles via Web of Science Citing articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Losonsky, G. A. Articles by Colwell, R. R. Search for related content PubMed PubMed citation Articles by Losonsky, G. A. Articles by Colwell, R. R. Related Content Load related web page information Social Bookmarking CiteULike Connotea Delicious Digg Facebook Google+ Mendeley Reddit StumbleUpon Twitter What's this? current issue November 2011, volume 18, issue 11 Alert me to new issues of CVI About CVI Subscribers Authors Reviewers Advertisers Inquiries from the Press Permissions & Commercial Reprints ASM Journals Public Access Policy CVI RSS Feeds 1752 N Street N.W. • Washington DC 20036 202.737.3600 • 202.942.9355 fax • journals@asmusa.org Print ISSN: 1556-6811 Online ISSN: 1556-679X Copyright © 2011 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to CVI .asm.org, visit: http://intl- CVI .asm.org | More Info» var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-5821458-5"); pageTracker._trackPageview();