What's New

Mycoplasma

 

The Journal of Infectious Diseases 2008;198:1365–1374
© 2008 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved.
0022-1899/2008/19809-0017$15.00 DOI: 10.1086/592281


MAJOR ARTICLE

 

Community Outbreak of Mycoplasma pneumoniae Infection: School‐Based Cluster of Neurologic Disease Associated with Household Transmission of Respiratory Illness

 

Nicholas D. Walter,(1,2), Gavin B. Grant,(1,2), Utpala Bandy,(7), Nicole E. Alexander,(8), Jonas M. Winchell,(2), Hannah T. Jordan,(1,2), James J. Sejvar,(3,4), Lauri A. Hicks,(8), David R. Gifford,(7), Nicole T. Alexander,(2), Kathleen A. Thurman,(2), Stephanie B. Schwartz,(2), Penelope H. Dennehy,(8), Nino Khetsuriani,(5), Barry S. Fields,(2), Michael T. Dillon,(6), Dean D. Erdman,(5), Cynthia G. Whitney,(2) and Matthew R. Moore (2)

 

  1. Epidemic Intelligence Service, Office of Workforce and Career Development,
  2. Respiratory Diseases Branch, Divisions of
  3. Viral and Rickettsial Diseases,
  4. Vector‐Borne Infectious Diseases,
  5. Viral Diseases, and
  6. Scientific Resources, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia;
  7. Rhode Island Department of Health, and
  8. The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island

Received 4 March 2008; accepted 13 May 2008; electronically published 22 September 2008.

 

Reprints or correspondence: Dr. Nicholas D. Walter, Div. of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine, Campus Box 272, School of Medicine 5525, 4200 E. Ninth Ave, Denver, CO 80222 (nicholas.walter@uchsc.edu).

 

 

Reprinted with Permission of The University of Chicago Press

Abstract

 

Background

We investigated an outbreak of severe neurologic disease and pneumonia that occurred among students at 4 schools in Rhode Island.

Methods

We identified cases of encephalitis, encephalomyelitis, and pneumonia that occurred among schoolchildren from 1 September 2006 through 9 February 2007, and we performed serologic tests, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis, and culture for the detection of multiple pathogens in oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal specimens. Students with positive results of Mycoplasma pneumoniae IgM serologic testing and no alternative diagnosis were considered to be infected with Mycoplasma pneumoniae. At school A, we used questionnaires to identify students and their household contacts who made visits to physicians for pneumonia and cough. We compared observed and expected rates of pneumonia.

Result

Rates of pneumonia among elementary students (122 cases/1000 student‐years) were >5‐fold higher than expected. Three students had encephalitis or encephalomyelitis, and 76 had pneumonia. Of these 2 groups of students, 2 (66%) and 57 students (75%), respectively, had Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection. M. pneumoniae was detected by PCR in 10 students with pneumonia; 5 of these specimens were cultured, and Mycoplasma pneumoniae was isolated in 4. Of 202 households of students attending school A, 20 (10%) accounted for 61% of visits to physicians for pneumonia or cough. Of 19 household contacts of students with pneumonia, 8 (42%) developed pneumonia and 6 (32%) reported visits for cough.

Conclusions

Mycoplasma pneumoniae caused a community‐wide outbreak of cough illness and pneumonia and was associated with the development of life‐threatening neurologic disease. Although Mycoplasma pneumoniae was detected in schools, its transmission in households amplified the outbreak. Interrupting household transmission should be a priority during future outbreaks.

Copyright © The Journal of Infectious Diseases - All rights reserved
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JID/

 

Full Text article at : http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/592281

 

Disclaimer:

Information on this site is provided for educational purposes only and is not meant to substitute the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals.
Consult your own physician regarding the applicability of any information listed on this website with respect to your symptoms or medical condition

 

Disclaimer