Background: Mycoplasma pneumoniae respiratory infections are transmitted by aerosol and droplets in close contact. Aim: We investigated global M. pneumoniae incidence after implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) against COVID-19 in March 2020. Methods: We surveyed M. pneumoniae detections from laboratories and surveillance systems (national or regional) across the world from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 and compared them with cases from corresponding months between 2017 and 2020. Macrolide-resistant M. pneumoniae (MRMp) data were collected from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2021. Results: Thirty-seven sites from 21 countries in Europe, Asia, America and Oceania submitted valid datasets (631,104 tests). Among the 30,617 M. pneumoniae detections, 62.39% were based on direct test methods (predominantly PCR), 34.24% on a combination of PCR and serology (no distinction between methods) and 3.37% on serology alone (only IgM considered). In all countries, M. pneumoniae incidence by direct test methods declined significantly after implementation of NPIs with a mean of 1.69% (SD ± 3.30) compared with 8.61% (SD ± 10.62) in previous years (p < 0.01). Detection rates decreased with direct but not with indirect test methods (serology) (–93.51% vs + 18.08%; p < 0.01). Direct detections remained low worldwide throughout April 2020 to March 2021 despite widely differing lockdown or school closure periods. Seven sites (Europe, Asia and America) reported MRMp detections in one of 22 investigated cases in April 2020 to March 2021 and 176 of 762 (23.10%) in previous years (p = 0.04). Conclusions: This comprehensive collection of M. pneumoniae detections worldwide shows correlation between COVID-19 NPIs and significantly reduced detection numbers.

Acute respiratory tract infections (RTIs), both upper (URTIs) and lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs), are the most common reason for consultation with a general practitioner. RTIs result in about 180 million antibiotic prescriptions per year in the EU-27 member states (ESAC website, 2008; [

Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae) belongs to the class Mollicutes and has been recognized as a common cause of respiratory tract infections (RTIs), including community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), that occur worldwide and in all age groups. In addition, M. pneumoniae can simultaneously or sequentially lead to damage in the nervous system and has been associated with a wide variety of other acute and chronic diseases. During the past 10 years, the proportion of LRTI in children and adults, associated with M. pneumoniae infection has ranged from 0% to more than 50%. This variation is due to the age and the geographic location of the population examined but also due to the diagnostic methods used. The true role of M. pneumoniae in RTIs remains a challenge given the many limitations and lack of standardization of the applied diagnostic tool in most cases, with resultant wide variations in data from different studies. Correct and rapid diagnosis and/or management of M. pneumoniae infections is, however, critical to initiate appropriate antibiotic treatment and is nowadays usually done by PCR and/or serology. Several recent reviews have summarized current methods for the detection and identification of M. pneumoniae. This review will therefore provide a look at the general principles, advantages, diagnostic value, and limitations of the most currently used detection techniques for the etiological diagnosis of a M. pneumoniae infection as they evolve from research to daily practice.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the performance of the NucliSens easyMAG platform for nucleic acid extraction from different clinical specimens compared to NucliSens miniMAG platform and manual QIAGEN extraction. The NucliSens easyMAG and the NucliSens miniMAG showed equal performance on 215 throat swabs since real-time nucleic acid sequence-based amplification scored the same samples positive for Mycoplasma pneumoniae ( n = 9) and Chlamydia pneumoniae ( n = 5) RNAs, although internal control RNA was slightly better detected with the NucliSens easyMAG (99.3% versus 96.8%). NucliSens easyMAG extracted nucleic acids more efficiently (higher recovery and/or fewer inhibitors) compared to QIAGEN extraction by showing, on average, lower Ct values in real-time LightCycler PCR, although 4 individual specimen out of 45 were found positive only with QIAGEN. For nine M. pneumoniae -positive throat swabs, the mean difference in Ct values between NucliSens easyMAG extraction and QIAGEN extraction was −2.26 (range, −5.77 to +0.60); for the detection of five C. pneumoniae -positive throat swabs, the average difference in Ct values between the two methods was −3.38 (range, −6.62 to −2.02); and for the detection of cytomegalovirus in 24 blood samples, the mean difference in Ct values between the two methods was −0.95 (range, −5.51 to +1.68). The NucliSens easyMAG is considerably easier to perform, efficiently extracts nucleic acids from throat swabs and whole blood, is automated, and has high throughput.