Abstract
The aim of the study presented here was to determine the prevalence of Chlamydia pneumoniae versus Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections in paediatric patients with community-acquired pneumonia. A total of 50 patients (mean age, 5.5 years; median, 3.9 years) with community-acquired pneumonia were enrolled. Four patients were found to have Chlamydia pneumoniae infection (1 culture positive, 1 PCR positive and 2 serology positive) and 16 patients had Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection (2 PCR positive, 4 PCR and serology positive, 10 serology positive), including three patients with coinfection. The rates of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection were 22%, 35% and 40% in children aged 1–3, >3–7 and >7 years, respectively. Acute Chlamydia pneumoniae infection was substantially less common than Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in our study cohort.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to J. Glaus and G. Tusch, technicians at the University of Basel Children’s Hospital Microbiological Laboratory, for performing serum antibody analyses and to S. Jenny, S. Balogh and C. Möller for performing PCR assays. Technical advice on PCR by R. Hertel is also acknowledged. We thank Dr. H. Matile, Hoffmann-La Roche, Basel, for performing cultures of Chlamydia pneumoniae.
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This work was presented in part at the 40th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC), Toronto, Canada, 17–20 September 2000 (Poster #588)
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Baer, G., Engelcke, G., Abele-Horn, M. et al. Role of Chlamydia pneumoniae and Mycoplasma pneumoniae as Causative Agents of Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Hospitalised Children and Adolescents. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 22, 742–745 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-003-1037-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-003-1037-9