Loading...
Infection with Mycoplasma pneumoniae is very common, especially in closed populations, but is thought to primarily affect children and young adults and to have a very low case-fatality rate even in the absence of antibiotic therapy.
On June 20, 2014, a long-term care facility in Nebraska reported an outbreak of respiratory disease characterized by cough and fever; 22 residents were involved, including 4 who had died during the preceding 2 weeks. (The index patient, an Alzheimer unit resident, had developed cough and fever June 2, had been given amoxicillin — to which M. pneumoniae is resistant — on June 5, and had died 2 days later.) Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swabs and autopsy materi…