Pneumonia

Mycoplasma pneumoniae

A 19 year old college male presents with gradual onset of a "primary atypical pneumonia" (i.e., can not be isolated on ordinary laboratory media or does not resemble pneumococcal pneumonia). He complains of fever, headache, sore throat, cough, malaise, and myalgias. He states that he experienced a dry cough, earache, and whitish sputum earlier in the week.

Labs: Cold-agglutinin titer of higher than 1:128 for these small, wall-less organisms

Discussion: Diagnosis of this disease is made by clinical presentation and serologic testing. Culturing sputum samples is usually not done. It is also known as walking pneumoniae. Mycoplasma pneumoniae causes pneumonia that is preceded by pharyngitis and tracheobronchitis. Cough is the most common symptom. It is paroxysmal and produces mucoid sputum.

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