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Paediatric Pulmonology and Allergology
2003 April, Vol. VI, No. 1 (pp.2014-2024)
Role of Mycoplasma pneumoniae DNA detection in children with lower respiratory tract diseases
Ramune Mykolaitiene, Petras Stakenas, Vytautas Baciulis
The aim of the study was to find out a prevalence of Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) bacteremia in children with lower respiratory tract infections. A total of 84 hospiatlized children clinically diagnosed with lower respiratory tract infections were investigated for the presence of MP infection using PCR technique with hybridization. The mean age of the patients was 9.9±3.8 years. MP infection was detected in 41 (48.8%) and was not present in 43 (51.2%) children. MP was not detected by PCR method in throat swabs in 63.4%, from the blood in 22% and simultaneously from throat and blood in 14.6% patients. On the whole mycoplasmal DNA was detected in blood of 36.6% patients with LRT infections. The results suggests that M.pneumoniae DNA is present in blood in high percentage of patients with mycoplasmal lower respiratory tract infections. The significance of M.pneumoniae genonemia is discussed.