MYCOPLASMA PNEUMONIAE INFECTIONS IN CHILDREN. AN EPIDEMIOLOGIC APPRAISAL IN FAMILIES TREATED WITH OXYTETRACYCLINE

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Abstract
An epidemic of respiratory tract disease was studied in 89 families by throat-swab cultures and serologically for evidence of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections. Siblings and other household contacts were treated with oxytetracycline or placebo to examine the possible effects of administration of the drug on the course of the epidemic. Treatment of contacts with oxytetracycline reduced the number of detected M. pneumoniae infections and rendered most infections asymptomatic both in children and their parents. Infants and children infected with M. pneumoniae often had otitis media and persistent coughing. Although illnesses in school-age children were specifically diagnosed with the greatest frequency, disease-associated mycoplasmal infections were seen in 26 patients 4 months to 4 years old. Laboratory evidence of infections was obtained much more successfully by serologic methods than by throat culturing. Comparisons of 3 methods for serodiagnosis revealed that the CF [complement fixation] test was most often positive (73 cases) but without the use of the IHA [indirect hemagglutination] and TRI [tetrazolium reduction inhibition] techniques 60 cases would have been missed.