Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Laboratory Findings
- Mycoplasma pneumonia is diagnosed by either culture, serology, or molecular methods.
- The following table demonstrates the advantages and disadvantages of each diagnostic method for Mycoplasma pneumonia:
| Method
|
Advantages
|
Disadvantages
|
Test Setting
|
| Culture |
"*Provides clinical isolates for genotyping and antimicrobial susceptibilities testing
- 100% specificity when a positive result is obtained
|
| *Commercially available SP4 media" |
- Time-consuming
- Requires specialized expertise
- High potential for false negatives
- Slow growth||*Reference laboratories only, not for routine diagnostics
|
| Serology |
- Commercially available kits
- Quantification possible||*Lacks specificity
- Need for acute and convalescent paired sera
- Test results turn-around time not optimal for treatment decisions
- Cumbersome and time-sensitive sampling
- Not FDA approved||
- Clinical Service: Sera provided to a clinical laboratory testing service for EIA testing
|
| Molecular |
- Commercially available kits
- High sensitivity and specificity
- Rapid detection
- Results can be obtained in time to guide treatment decisions
- Useful for strain typing||
- Expensive
- Requires specialized expertise and equipment
- Not standardized
- Lack of clinical and comparative validation
- Limited FDA approval||
- Clinical Service: NP, OP, or sputum provided to a clinical laboratory testing service for qPCR testing
- CDC: Multiplex qPCR used for M. pneumoniae detection in NP, OP, sputum tissue, or CSF
- Commercial / FDA Approved: 1) FilmArray (BioFire Inc) is a nested multiplex PCR in a closed "lab-in-a-pouch" format, 2) Illumigene (Meridian Biosciences, Inc) is a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay
|
References
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