Understanding Mycoplasma Infection: Chronic Cough and Atypical Pneumonia

Mycoplasma infection often causes chronic cough and atypical pneumonia. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Speaking ofpneumonia，「MycoplasmaThe word “pneumonia” is often heard in the media, but most people still don’t understand it, and even mistakenly think it is a long-haired mold.The discovery of mycoplasma has a history of more than 100 years. At that time, the discoverer was a biologist who was studying theInfectdisease, mistaking it for amoldInfect. The so-called “one wrong step, one wrong step”, this kind of misnaming has continued to this day, making us all confused by the name of this bacterium, thinking that it has something to do with mold, but it doesn’t.

The Rise of Mycoplasma in the Media

Although mycoplasma belongs to bacteria, it is a “bacteria without clothes”. After the capsule is removed, the particles are extremely small, so the ability to spread is stronger and wider than other bacteria. Mycoplasma also retains bacterial properties and can colonize the human respiratory tract for weeks to months, during which time most people are asymptomatic. However, when the host’s resistance is not good, mycoplasma will also be around the corner, causing inflammation of the respiratory tract, making people cough and sick. Since the symptoms of most infected people are not serious, mycoplasma was not taken seriously when the pneumonia devil was still rampant in the past, and no one paid attention to it.

However, in recent years, Mycoplasma has often been featured on the health page. There are two main reasons: First, Streptococcus pneumoniae has been slaughtered miserably by vaccines. The number of cases is getting smaller and smaller, and SARS has attracted more and more attention. 2. Mycoplasma is closely related to allergic asthma. In recent years, more and more children are allergic, so the symptoms of mycoplasma are more obvious.

The following will introduce the two topics that most people worry about mycoplasma infection: chronic cough and atypical pneumonia.

Chronic cough due to mycoplasma infection: link to allergic asthma

Mycoplasma infection can easily lead to chronic cough, and a high proportion of them are chronic coughs caused by allergic asthma induced by mycoplasma. Here are three research data for you: 1. 50% of first-time asthmatics have mycoplasma on their bodies; 2. Up to 20% of hospitalized patients with poor asthma control have mycoplasma in the respiratory tract; 3. Allergies Up to 50% of patients with poorly controlled tracheal attacks have mycoplasma in the respiratory tract.

All these figures tell us that the two diagnoses of mycoplasma and allergic asthma are really inseparable. With the increasing number of children with allergic asthma, the comorbidity of mycoplasma infection is becoming more and more common. Therefore, to treat mycoplasma infection, it is necessary to treat allergic asthma at the same time, so that the condition can be effectively controlled.

Pneumonia caused by mycoplasma is commonly known as “walking pneumonia”. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Atypical Mycoplasma Pneumonia: Walking Pneumonia

Pneumonia caused by mycoplasma is commonly known as “walking pneumonia”. It is a metaphor that a patient with mycoplasma pneumonia can walk up and down the road with a relaxed appearance even if the chest looks severely inflamed. Of course, this type of patients needs antibiotic treatment, but since mycoplasma is a “bacteria without clothes”, the common antibiotics such as “antibacterial and cephalosporin” that mainly attack the capsule of bacteria are ineffective against mycoplasma infection .

The preferred antibiotic for mycoplasma is erythromycin “Risu”, but after extensive and long-term use, a higher and higher proportion of drug resistance has been produced, and the effect is getting worse and worse. After taking Rishu, many people feel that their cough has improved significantly, because Rishu itself has the function of anti-inflammation and treating asthma. The improvement of symptoms does not necessarily mean that the mycoplasma has been killed. However, there are many better options for the treatment of asthma. Abusing Rishu to treat allergic asthma will make more bacteria resistant to it in the future, which is not worth the candle.

undiagnosed mycoplasma infection

The biggest problem in medical treatment at present is that there is “no” accurate diagnosis method for mycoplasma. This is a secret that doctors cannot tell. Most medical institutions have two methods for diagnosing mycoplasma infection: blood test for antibody, or throat test for PCR. However, the false negative probability of blood test antibody is high, and the false positive probability of throat PCR is high, and both tests are inaccurate.

That being the case, my own attitude is “innocence inference”. Unless it is obvious mycoplasma pneumonia, I generally choose not to say the word mycoplasma casually, and try not to use Rishu as much as possible. use. As long as the allergic asthma is controlled stably, many mycoplasma patients will gradually recover naturally without treatment.

This article is excerpted from Parent-child Tianxia Publishing House “Dr. Huang Yuning’s Infection Light Encyclopedia: Comic Understanding New Crown, Influenza, Enteroviruses and Bacteria, and Relaxing Parenting Life”, author: Huang Yuning (Chief Physician of Pediatric Infectious Diseases Department).