Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Clinical Infectious Diseases
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1424554

Epidemiological characteristics of mycoplasma pneumoniae in hospitalized children before, during, and after COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in Chongqing, China

Provisionally accepted
Jingyi You Jingyi You Linghuan Zhang Linghuan Zhang Wei Chen Wei Chen Qifan Wu Qifan Wu Dayong Zhang Dayong Zhang Zhengxiu Luo Zhengxiu Luo Zhou Fu Zhou Fu *
  • Children‘s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) is a significant cause of community-acquired pneumonia with high macrolide resistance rates. Various COVID-19 pandemic restrictions have impacted the prevalence of MP.Objective: To assess the changes in the pattern of MP infections among children before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: A total of 36685 enrolled patients, aged 0-18 years, diagnosed with pneumonia and admitted to Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from January 2019 to December 2023, were retrospectively reviewed in this study. The epidemiological characteristics of pediatric MP infection were analyzed.Results: Among 36685 patients, 7610 (20.74%) tested positive for MP. The highest positive rate was observed among children aged over 6 years (55.06%). There was no gender disparity in MP infection across the three phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospital stays were longest for children during the COVID-19 pandemic (P <0.001). MP infection was most prevalent in the summer (29.64%). The lowest positive rate was observed during the pandemic, with the highest rate found after easing the measures across all age groups (P <0.001). There was a surge in the positive rate of MP in the third year after the COVID-19 pandemic. Regression analyses demonstrated a shift in the age range susceptible to MP infection, with children aged 3.8 to 13.5 years post-pandemic compared to the prepandemic range of 5.3 to 15.5 years old. Additionally, the average macrolide resistance rate was 79.84%. We observed a higher resistance rate during the pandemic than in the pre-and post-pandemic phases (P <0.001). The restrictive measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic have influenced the spread of MP to some extent and altered demographic and clinical characteristics, such as age, age group, season, length of stay, and macrolide resistance. We recommend continuous surveillance of the evolving epidemiological characteristics of MP infection in the post-pandemic period when restrictions are no longer necessary.Data on the epidemiological characteristics of MP at different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in China over a long period is limited. In this five-year retrospective study, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of MP infection among hospitalized children in Chongqing before, during, and after the

    Keywords: Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Children, COVID-19, Epidemiology, Restrictive measures

    Received: 10 May 2024; Accepted: 24 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 You, Zhang, Chen, Wu, Zhang, Luo and Fu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Zhou Fu, Children‘s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.