All issues > Volume 32(1); 1989

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1989;32(1):1-10. Published online January 31, 1989.

Clinical Consideration on Pneumonia caused by Mycoplasma Pneumoniae in Children.

Il Kyung Kim¹, Hyung Jin Kwon¹, Ho Seong¹, Chang Hee Choi¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, Seoul Adventish Hospital. Seoul, Korea

Received: May 10, 1988;  Accepted: August 16, 1988.

Abstract

A retrospective analysis of clinical findings in 63 patients above 2 years of age who were admitted to our hospital due to pneumonia caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae from July, 1986 to June, 1987 was performed. The results obtained were as follows: 1) The number of patients showing positive reaction to cold agglutinin test (above 1:64) were 59 (55. 7%) among 106 total pneumonia cases. 2) The peak incidence of age was between 5 to 6 years of age, and the sex ratio of male to female was 1.2:1. 3) Monthly distribution showed a high frequency in May (16 cases, 25.4%), and was rare from July to September 4) Most common clinical symptoms were couth, fever and sputum in sequence. 5) Rale was the most frequent physical sign, and wheezing was more common in the groups between 2 to 5 years of age. 6) Increased ESR was noted in 43 cases (68.3%), and absolute neutrophilia was seen in 19 cases (39 cases, 61.9%). 7) on the chest X-ray findings, the most common type of pneumonia was bronchopneumonia (39 cases, 61.9%), and unilateral involvement was common (49 cases, 77.8%). Pleural effusion was noted in 4 cases, but the extent was minimal in all cases. 8) We carried out mycoplasma antibody test with cold agglutinin test.in 43 patients. The sensitivity of mycoplasma antibody test was 55.6%, and the specificity was 67.6%. 9) Mean duration of admission was 7.2 ± 2.6 days.

Keywords :Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia