Epidemiological characteristics of mycoplasma pneumoniae respiratory tract infection in hospitalized children from 2006 to 2013

Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) has been reported to be responsible for 10~30% of all cases of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) among children and shows an even higher proportion during epidemics. Currently, little is known about the association between the prevalence of MP RTIs and climate in China. Nasopharyngeal aspirates obtained from children with acute respiratory tract infections during Jan 2006 to Dec 2013 were tested for MP by real-time fluorescent PCR. The relationship between the detection of MP and metrorological factors was analyzed by linear regression and stepwise regression analysis. The average positive rate of MP was 28.1% (25.1%, 32.6%, 39%, 41%, 19.1%, 7.5%, 27.6%, and 31.3% per year, respectively) during 2006 to 2013. The positive rates of MP infection were 25.3% in spring, 33.7% in summer, 32.8% in autumn and 20.8% in winter. The positive rate of MP showed a moderate correlation with average monthly temperature (r = 0.3388, P = 0.000) and a low correlation with average monthly sunshine (r = 0.241, P = 0.018) and rainfall (r = 0.207, P = 0.043). MP was the common pathogen in respiratory tract infection of hospitalized children in Suzhou. Epidemic outbreaks of MP infection occurred lasting for 4 years and at intervals of 2 years from 2006 to 2013. The prevalence of MP infection was higher during summer and autumn and showed a correlation with average temperature.