AUTHOR=Cheng Yuan , Cheng Yijing , Dai Shuzhi , Hou Dongqing , Ge Menglei , Zhang Yi , Fan Lei , Pei Yingying , Yu Li , Xue Guanhua , Ma Lijuan , Sun Hongmei 

TITLE=The Prevalence of Mycoplasma Pneumoniae Among Children in Beijing Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2022.854505

DOI=10.3389/fcimb.2022.854505

ISSN=2235-2988

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objective</title><p><italic>Mycoplasma pneumoniae</italic> (<italic>M. pneumoniae</italic>) is an important pathogen of community acquired pneumonia. With the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the prevalence of some infectious respiratory diseases has varied. Epidemiological features of <italic>M. pneumoniae</italic> in children from Beijing (China) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic were investigated.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Between June 2016 and May 2021, a total of 569,887 children with respiratory infections from Children’s Hospital Affiliated to Capital Institute of Pediatrics (Beijing, China) were included in this study. <italic>M. pneumoniae</italic> specific-IgM antibody in serum specimens of these patients was tested by a rapid immunochromatographic assay kit. The relevant clinical data of <italic>M. pneumoniae</italic>-positive cases were also collected, and analyzed by RStudio software.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The results showed that 13.08% of collected samples were positive for <italic>M. pneumoniae</italic> specific-IgM antibody. The highest annual positive rate was 17.59% in 2019, followed by 12.48% in 2018, 12.31% in 2017, and 11.73% in 2016, while the rate dropped to 8.9% in 2020 and 4.95% in 2021, with significant difference. Among the six years, the positive rates in summer and winter seasons were significantly higher than those in spring and autumn seasons (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001). The positive rate was the highest in school-age children (22.20%), and lowest in the infant group (8.76%, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001). The positive rate in boys (11.69%) was lower than that in girls (14.80%, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001). There were no significant differences in different seasons, age groups, or genders before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (<italic>p</italic> &gt; 0.05).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p>Our study demonstrated that an <italic>M. pneumoniae</italic> outbreak started from the summer of 2019 in Beijing. After the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in the end of 2019, the <italic>M. pneumoniae</italic> positive rates dropped dramatically. This may be due to the restrictive measures of the COVID-19 pandemic, which effectively controlled the transmission of <italic>M. pneumoniae</italic>. The relationships between <italic>M. pneumoniae</italic> positive rates and season, age, and gender were not statistically significant before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.</p></sec>