Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection is associated with subacute cough.

Cough, one of the most common reasons patients seek medical attention [1], is categorised according to duration. Acute cough lasts ,3 weeks, subacute cough lasts 3–8 weeks and chronic cough .8 weeks [2, 3]. Acute cough is usually due to viral infection; it is transient and self-limiting [4]. Chronic cough has a variety of causes that can be established in 88–100% of patients using a diagnostic algorithm [3]. In contrast, the aetiology of subacute cough remains poorly defined, although post-infectious cough, sinusitis, post-nasal drip and bronchial asthma are listed as possible causes [2, 3, 5, 6]. As subacute cough is often refractory to recommended therapies, a better understanding of its aetiology is needed. The present work examined a possible role for Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in subacute cough.