Frequency of mycoplasma pneumonia among children hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia

Introduction: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is one of the most common respiratory infections and is clinically divided into typical and atypical. The most common causal microorganism for typical pneumonia is Streptococcus pneumoniae. Conversely, the most frequent microorganisms in typical pneumonia are Mycoplasma pneumonia and viruses. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency of M. pneumonia in children with diagnosis of pneumonia. Patients and Methods: The present study is a descriptive-analytical study. This study was conducted on 195 children with M. pneumonia. The diagnosis was confirmed by clinical features, laboratory data and radiological findings. Results: In this study, the mean age of patients was 4.89 years since 61.5% of patients were boys. Of them, serum IgMwaspositivein13 patients and IgG was positive in 41 patients. Among the clinical symptoms, fever, cough and runny nose were the most common symptoms. Patients with positive IgM usually were older and had higher fever than other patients while their serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level was significantly higher (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that frequency of M. pneumonia increase with age. High grade fever and sever cough are more common in children with M. pneumonia. Among the laboratory findings higher CRP level is reliable predictor marker for M. pneumonia infection.