Clinical significance of different bacterial load ofMycoplasma pneumoniae in patients with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia
- Resource Type
- article
- Authors
- Jiang, Wujun; Yan, Yongdong; Ji, Wei; Wang, Yuqing; Chen, Zhengrong
- Source
- Brazilian Journal of Infectious Diseases. April 2014 18(2)
- Subject
- Mycoplasma pneumoniae
Pneumonia
Polymerase chain reaction
Serology
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1413-8670
OBJECTIVE:This retrospective study was conducted to investigate the clinical significance of differentMycoplasma pneumoniae bacterial load in patients with M. pneumoniae pneumonia (MP) in children.METHODS:Patients with MP (n=511) were identified at the Children's Hospital Affiliated to Soochow University database during an outbreak of MP between January 2012 and February 2013.RESULTS:Comparing patients with high and low bacterial load those with higher loads were significantly older (p<0.01) and had fever significantly more frequently (p=0.01). Presence of wheezing at presentation was associated with low bacterial load (p=0.03). Baseline positive IgM was present in 93 (56.4%) patients with high bacterial load compared to 46 (27.8%) patients with low bacterial load (p<0.001). Co-infection with viruses was found significantly more frequent among patients with low bacterial load (24.2%) than those with high bacterial load (8.5%) [p<0.001]. Bacterial co-infection was also more frequently detected among patients with low bacterial load (22.4%) than in those with high bacterial load (12.1%) [p=0.01].CONCLUSION:M. pneumoniae at a high bacterial load could be an etiologic agent of respiratory tract disease, whereas the etiologic role of MP at a low bacterial load remains to be determined.