Prevalence of Mycoplasma pneumonia in Patients with Respiratory Infections from Shaheed Mostafa Khomeini and Khatam Hospitals by Culture and PCR Methods

Background and Aims: Mycoplasma pneumoniae is one of the most important pathogens causing human respiratory tract infection; especially in community-acquired pneumonia (responsible for 10 – 40% of these infections).The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of Mycoplasma pneumonia in patients with respiratory infections from Mostafa Khomeini and Khatam hospitals, by culture and molecular methods. Materials and Methods: In this study, 100 samples of throat swab from patients with respiratory infections were collected. All samples were cultured in PPLO broth and PPLO agar. After culture and genomic DNA extraction, PCR was carried out using specific M. pneumoniae primers. Results: In this study, 14 (14%) colonies of Mycoplasma were isolated on PPLO agar medium. Using specific primers, 17 samples (17%) were detected as Mycoplasma genus and 6 samples (6%) were confirmed to be M. pneumoniae species.  Conclusions: Based on the results of this study, For the detection of M. pneumoniae among the respiratory infections cases PCR is a highly reliable and sensitive method compared to the culture media. Using specific primers, PCR can confidently detect and separate infectious agents even in the genesis and species level.