Secondary bacterial infections in children with proved Mycoplasma pneumoniae.

Reports of important pulmonary complications, including bronchiectasis, have been reported after Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection.'-4 Two reports56 have noted more subtle pulmonary function abnormalities, several years after mycoplasma infection, in children. Haemophilus influenzae has been implicated as a secondary invader following initial Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in two reports." The complications so far recorded may therefore be manifestations of secondary infection. This report describes five children with proved Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection whose illness was prolonged and in whom secondary bacterial infection was possible.