Community-acquired pneumonia in children due to Mycoplasma pneumoniae: Diagnostic performance of a seminested 16S rDNA-PCR

A 16S rDNA-PCR assay for Mycoplasma pneumoniae applied to nasopharyngeal se cretion (NPS) or pharyngeal swab (PS) from children with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) was prospectively compared to serological tests including complement fixation (CF) test, a mu -capture enzyme immune assay (EIA) for the detection of specific IgM, and an EIA for the detection of specific IgG . During a 24-months-period diagnosis of active M. pneumoniae infection was established in 32 (12.6%) of 253 patients for whom paired sera were availa ble. In the acute phase, the sensitivities of PCR from MPS and PS, CF test, IgM EIA: and IgG ETA were 90.0%, 79.3%, 46.9%, 78.1%, and 59.4%, respectiv ely. The corresponding specificities were 98.1%, 98.6%, 97.6%, 87.1%, and 7 2.4%, respectively. Thus, the 16S rDNA-PCR assay provides a highly sensitiv e and accurate tool for the rapid diagnosis of M. pneumoniae infection in c hildren with CAP. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.