Increasing number of clinically severe of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections in children after the COVID-19 pandemic: a single centre case series

Karen N McCarthy; James Hatcher; Timothy Best; Marios Kaliakatsos; Jane Hassell; Andrew Turnbull; Peter Sidgwick; Javier Gavela; Jacob Simmonds; Filip F Kucera; Adilia Warris; Seilesh Kadambari

doi:10.1093/jpids/piae132

Increasing number of clinically severe of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections in children after the COVID-19 pandemic: a single centre case series

J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. 2024 Dec 24:piae132. doi: 10.1093/jpids/piae132. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Karen N McCarthy¹, James Hatcher², Timothy Best², Marios Kaliakatsos^{3

4}, Jane Hassell³, Andrew Turnbull⁵, Peter Sidgwick⁶, Javier Gavela⁷, Jacob Simmonds⁸, Filip F Kucera¹, Adilia Warris^{1

9}, Seilesh Kadambari^{1

10}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Paediatric Infectious Diseases, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.
² Department of Microbiology, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.
³ Department of Neurology, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
⁴ Developmental Neurosciences Department, University College Longon, London, United Kingdom.
⁵ Respiratory Unit, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
⁶ Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, UK.
⁷ Department of Cardiac Intensive Care, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, United Kingdom.
⁸ Department of Paediatric Cardiology, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, United Kingdom.
⁹ MRC Centre for Medical Mycology, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 5QD, UK.
¹⁰ Infection, Immunity and Inflammation department, University College London, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, United Kingdom.

PMID: 39716373
DOI: 10.1093/jpids/piae132

Abstract

In 2024, there have been increases in laboratory confirmed infections of Mycoplasma Pneumoniae infection worldwide. This case series highlights increasing frequency of Mycoplasma pneumoniae positive PCR specimens and an increased number of hospital admissions with Mycoplasma pneumoniae clinical syndromes. Within this case series, we observed, a change in the epidemiology and clinical burden of childhood Mycoplasma pneumonia disease in the post COVID-19 era.

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