Atypical pneumonia in children: serological and molecular detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Systematic Review

Abstract

M. pneumoniae is an important etiologic agent for atypical pneumonia in children. Due to its immunogenic characteristics, the clinical signs do not reach diagnostic certainty. Common methods used for different etiology do not produce diagnostic facilitating findings for therapeutic decisions. The objective of this review is to describe the usefulness of PCR and IgM serology for M. pneumoniae in children, considering that these are the most used techniques. Making use of the Pico strategy, scientific material was searched in PubMed, Embase, Chrocane databases; verifying terms Mesh and Decs. Exclusion criteria: abstracts, other microorganisms, adult population, different laboratory tests, case reports and letters to the editor. It is important to detect M. pneumoniae by the appearance of resistant to macrolide treatment microorganisms; secondary to not having reliable labs. Serology is not highly sensitive, in early stages; but, with paired tests, it confirms the diagnosis. To expedite detection, some propose PCR; depending on certain conditions, it could make a diagnosis. If the necessary requirements are not achieved, the use of the two tests is reliable. In conclusion, there is no superiority of a specific test; some studies suggest both tests for a rapid diagnosis and avoid resistance by indiscriminate use of antibiotics.

Keywords

• mycoplasma pneumoniae, reacción en cadena de la polimerasa niño, neumonía atípica, inmunoglobulina m, niño