Clinical Information

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a small bacterium transmitted via organism-containing droplets. It is a cause of upper respiratory infection, pharyngitis, and tracheobronchitis, particularly in children, and has been associated with approximately 20% of cases of community-acquired pneumonia. Central nervous system and cardiac manifestations are probably the most frequent extrapulmonary complications of infections due to M pneumoniae. The disease is usually self-limited, although severe disease has been reported in immunocompromised patients.

Identification of M pneumoniae by culture-based methods is time consuming and insensitive. Serology-based assays for M pneumoniae have several drawbacks. The development of IgM antibodies takes approximately 1 week, and the IgM response may be variable in adults or decreased in immunosuppressed individuals. Confirmation of the disease is dependent on the observation of a 4-fold rise in IgG antibody titers between acute and convalescent specimens, several weeks following the initial onset of illness, providing clinical utility only for retrospective testing. Real-time polymerase chain reaction offers a rapid and sensitive option for detection of M pneumoniae DNA from clinical specimens for diagnosis of acute or current infection.