RT Book, Section
A1 Ryan, Kenneth J.
SR Print(0)
ID 1148676267
T1 Mycoplasma
T2 Sherris Medical Microbiology, 7e
YR 2017
FD 2017
PB McGraw-Hill Education
PP New York, NY
SN 9781259859809
LK accessbiomedicalscience.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1148676267
RD 2024/04/19
AB OverviewMycoplasma  are  tiny  bacteria  that  lack  a  cell  wall.  Their  outer  cell  membrane  contains  sterols  that  they  obtain  from  the  tissues  or  special  media  in  which  they  grow.  Mycoplasma  pneumoniae  is  second  only  to  the  pneumococcus  as  a  cause  of  community-acquired  pneumonia.  However,  M  pneumoniae  has  a  predilection  for  younger  persons  and  spreads  person-to-person  in  families  or  closed  groups,  whereas  the  elderly  are  at  greatest  risk  for  pneumococcal  pneumonia.  Mycoplasmal  infection  presents  as  tracheobronchitis  or  pneumonia  with  headache  and  a  persistent  nonproductive  cough,  often  worse  at  night.  Chest  radiographs  usually  show  unilateral  patchy  infiltrates  without  lobar  consolidation,  hence  the  term  “atypical”  or  “walking”  pneumonia.  The  course  is  almost  always  benign,  but  improvement  is  accelerated  by  treatment  with  doxycycline  or  azithromycin.  In  the  past,  diagnosis  was  confirmed  if  at  all  by  serology  or  rarely  by  culture.  Multiplex  PCR  platforms  for  respiratory  pathogens  are  being  used  more  frequently  are  changing  the  approach  to  diagnosis.