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M. pneumoniae is generally thought to act as an extracellular pathogen. Although the organism has been shown to exist and replicate within human cells, it is not known whether these intracellular events contribute to the pathogenesis of disease. M. pneumoniae attaches to ciliated respiratory epithelial cells by means of a complex terminal organelle at the tip of one end of the organism. Cytoadherence is mediated by interactive adhesins and accessory proteins clustered on this organelle. After extracellular attachment, M. pneumoniae causes injury to host respiratory tissue. The mechanism of injury is thought to be mediated by the production of hydrogen peroxide and of a recently identified ADP-ribosylating and vacuolating cytotoxin of M. pneumoniae that has many similarities to pertussis toxin. Because mycoplasmas lack a cell wall, they also lack cell wall–derived stimulators of the innate immune system, such as lipopolysaccharide, lipoteichoic acid, and murein (peptidoglycan) fragments. However, lipoproteins from the mycoplasmal cell membrane appear to have inflammatory properties, probably acting through Toll-like receptors (primarily TLR2) on macrophages and other cells. Lung biopsy specimens from patients with M. pneumoniae respiratory tract infection reveal an inflammatory process involving the trachea, bronchioles, and peribronchial tissue, with a monocytic infiltrate coinciding with a luminal exudate of polymorphonuclear leukocytes.
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Experimental evidence indicates that innate immunity provides most of the host’s defense against mycoplasmal infection in the lungs, whereas cellular immunity may actually play an immunopathogenic role, exacerbating mycoplasmal lung disease. Humoral immunity appears to provide protection against dissemination of M. pneumoniae infection; patients with humoral immunodeficiencies do not have more severe lung disease than do immunocompetent patients in the early stages of infection but more often develop disseminated infection resulting in syndromes such as arthritis, meningitis, and osteomyelitis. The immunity that follows severe M. pneumoniae infections is more protective and longer-lasting than that following mild infections. Genuine second attacks of M. pneumoniae pneumonia have been reported infrequently.
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M. pneumoniae infection occurs worldwide. It is likely that the incidence of upper respiratory illness due to M. pneumoniae is up to 20 times that of pneumonia caused by this organism. Infection is spread from one person to another by respiratory droplets expectorated during coughing and results in clinically apparent disease in an estimated 80% of cases. The incubation period for M. pneumoniae is 2–4 weeks; therefore, the time-course of infection in a specific population may be several weeks long. Intrafamilial attack rates are as high as 84% among children and 41% among adults. Outbreaks of M. pneumoniae illness often occur in institutional settings such as military bases, boarding schools, and summer camps. Infections tend to be endemic, with sporadic epidemics every 4–7 years. There is no seasonal pattern.
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Most significantly, M. pneumoniae is a major cause of community-acquired respiratory illness in both children and adults and is often grouped with Chlamydia pneumoniae and Legionella species as being among the most important bacterial causes of “atypical” community-acquired pneumonia. For community-acquired pneumonia in adults, M. pneumoniae is the most frequently detected “atypical” organism. Analysis of 13 studies of community-acquired pneumonia published since 1995 (which included 6207 ambulatory and hospitalized adults) showed that the overall prevalence of M. pneumoniae was 22.7%; by comparison, the prevalence of C. pneumoniae was 11.7%, and that of Legionella species was 4.6%. M. pneumoniae pneumonia is also referred to as Eaton agent pneumonia (the organism having first been isolated in the early 1940s by Monroe Eaton), primary atypical pneumonia, and “walking” pneumonia.
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CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS
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Upper respiratory tract infections and pneumonia
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Acute M. pneumoniae infections generally manifest as pharyngitis, tracheobronchitis, reactive airway disease/wheezing, or a nonspecific upper respiratory syndrome. Little evidence supports the commonly held belief that this organism is an important cause of otitis media, with or without bullous myringitis. Pneumonia develops in 3–13% of infected individuals; its onset is usually gradual, occurring over several days, but may be more abrupt. Although Mycoplasma pneumonia may begin with a sore throat, the most common presenting symptom is cough. The cough is typically nonproductive, but some patients produce sputum. Headache, malaise, chills, and fever are noted in the majority of patients.
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On physical examination, wheezes or rales are detected in ∼80% of patients with M. pneumoniae pneumonia. In many patients, however, pneumonia can be diagnosed only by chest radiography. The most common radiographic pattern is that of peribronchial pneumonia with thickened bronchial markings, streaks of interstitial infiltration, and areas of subsegmental atelectasis. Segmental or lobar consolidation is not uncommon. While clinically evident pleural effusions are infrequent, lateral decubitus views reveal that up to 20% of patients have pleural effusions.
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Overall, the clinical presentation of pneumonia in an individual patient is not useful for differentiating M. pneumoniae pneumonia from other types of community-acquired pneumonia. The possibility of M. pneumoniae infection deserves particular consideration when community-acquired pneumonia fails to respond to treatment with a penicillin or a cephalosporin—antibiotics that are ineffective against mycoplasmas. Symptoms usually resolve within 2–3 weeks after the onset of illness. Although M. pneumoniae pneumonia is generally self-limited, appropriate antimicrobial therapy significantly shortens the duration of clinical illness. Infection uncommonly results in critical illness and only rarely in death. In some patients, long-term recurrent wheezing or reactive airway disease may follow the resolution of acute pneumonia. The significance of chronic infection, especially as it relates to asthma, is an area of active investigation.
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Extrapulmonary manifestations
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An array of extrapulmonary manifestations may develop during M. pneumoniae infection. The most significant are neurologic, dermatologic, cardiac, rheumatologic, and hematologic in nature. Extrapulmonary manifestations can be a result of disseminated infection, especially in patients with humoral immunodeficiencies (e.g., septic arthritis); postinfectious autoimmune phenomena (e.g., Guillain-Barré syndrome); or possibly ADP-ribosylating toxin. Overall, these manifestations are uncommon, given the frequency of M. pneumoniae infection. Notably, many patients with extrapulmonary M. pneumoniae disease do not have respiratory disease.
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Skin eruptions described with M. pneumoniae infection include erythematous (macular or maculopapular), vesicular, bullous, petechial, and urticarial rashes. In some reports, 17% of patients with M. pneumoniae pneumonia have had an exanthem. Erythema multiforme major (Stevens-Johnson syndrome) is the most clinically significant skin eruption associated with M. pneumoniae infection; it appears to occur more commonly with M. pneumoniae than with other infectious agents.
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A wide spectrum of neurologic manifestations has been reported with M. pneumoniae infection. The most common are meningoencephalitis, encephalitis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and aseptic meningitis. M. pneumoniae has been implicated as a likely etiologic agent in 5–7% of cases of encephalitis. Other neurologic manifestations may include cranial neuropathy, acute psychosis, cerebellar ataxia, acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis, cerebrovascular thromboembolic events, and transverse myelitis.
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Hematologic manifestations of M. pneumoniae infection include hemolytic anemia, aplastic anemia, cold agglutinins, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and hypercoagulopathy. When anemia does occur, it generally develops in the second or third week of illness.
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In addition, hepatitis, glomerulonephritis, pancreatitis, myocarditis, pericarditis, rhabdomyolysis, and arthritis (septic and reactive) have been convincingly ascribed to M. pneumoniae infection. Septic arthritis has been described most commonly in hypogammaglobulinemic patients.