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Using 12 different and elaborate broth, agar, and cell culture procedures, we failed to isolate mycoplasmas, ureaplasmas, spiroplasmas, or chlamydiae from the synovial fluid of 10 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and from six patients with non-rheumatoid arthritis (NRA). In addition, sera from 35 patients with RA and 12 patients with NRA also were examined. Although some of the sera had moderately high titers of metabolism-inhibiting antibody to some of the 10 human Mycoplasma species, especially to the common respiratory pathogen Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and to some of the eight Ureaplasma urealyticum serovars, especially serovars V and VII, there were no significant differences between titers of these antibodies in the two groups of patients. Among RA patients serum antibody titers to M. pneumoniae were 1:32 in five and 1:16 in eight; two patients had higher synovial fluid titers (1:16) than serum titers (1:4). The geometric mean titer (GMT) of antibody to serovar V in synovial fluid was higher in RA patients than in NRA patients, but the difference did not reach significance (P = .056). Reports on the possible role of infectious agents in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis are reviewed.

Eighteen male and eight female primates, representing five subhuman species, were inoculated urogenitally with Mycoplasma genitalium, a microorganism recovered from men with nongonococcal urethritis. Male rhesus (Macaca mulatta) and cynomolgus (Macaca fascicularis) monkeys apparently were resistant. Female squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) and female tamarins (Saguinus mystax) exhibited low-level, genital-tract infections. Male chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) developed an obvious genital-tract infection, with some shedding organisms for 21 weeks. M. genitalium was recovered from the blood of two of the male chimpanzees, usually when large numbers of organisms were in the urethra. Female chimpanzees generally shed organisms for 12-15 weeks. Most chimpanzees colonized with the organism exhibited increased numbers of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in the genital tract and developed a significant antibody response. The results offer substantial evidence for the pathogenicity of M. genitalium for the urogenital tract of higher primates and suggest the microorganism may have a role in human genital-tract infections.

The purpose of the Round Table is to summarize the current status of information on selected topics in mycoplasmology. Invited speakers will introduce the subject and summarize salient data followed by an open discussion.