Prevalence and Clinical Spectrum of Mycoplasma pneumoniae in Community-acquired Pneumonia

ABSTRACT: Introduction Community-acquired pneumonia has been a serious health issue, particularly among the pediatric age group, and is considered to be one of the major causes responsible for hospital admissions [1]. It is a substantial cause of respiratory illness and mortality in children in developing countries. It is a widespread bacterial pathogen that has been associated with a variety of clinical features, including pulmonary and extrapulmonary manifestations. But as diagnostic testing is typically based on serology or non-standardized molecular techniques, the prevalence and epidemiology of hospitalized community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) owing to Mycoplasma pneumoniae are poorly recognized [6]. Because of its ample prevalence and fatal complications, there is a need to identify cases of Mycoplasma pneumonia and treat them optimally to minimize the long-term consequences. Material and Method This study aims to recruit the cases of community-acquired pneumonia from the OPD and IPD of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College Hospital, AMU, Aligarh, for one year (October 2019–October 2020) in patients within 1–14 years of age and assess the prevalence of Mycoplasma pneumonia among them. Result Five (15.62%) of the total of thirty-two (100%) patients with community-acquired pneumonia had Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection diagnosed based on serology, with the majority of patients in the 1–5 year age group and variable clinical characteristics, with tachypnea, fever, and cough being the most prominent symptoms and diffuse reticular pattern and lobar consolidation being the most common radiological findings. Conclusions It has been concluded from the above study that the prevalence of Mycoplasma pneumoniae in community-acquired pneumonia cases based on serology is low. However, because serology is not 100% sensitive and specific, and titers can range from complete absence for the first 7 days to highly detectable after one week of illness, the diagnosis should not be ruled out solely based on serology. Owing to the severity of the disease, a differential diagnosis of M. pneumoniae must always be kept in mind.