Identification of Mycoplasma pneumoniae-associated pneumonia cases among hospitalized patients using CLART® microarray technology

Abstract

Objectives Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a global health condition that affects populations from all age groups. The laboratory identification of Mycoplasma pneumoniae as a causative agent of CAP is challenging because of its atypical and fastidious nature. Therefore, this study assessed the diagnostic potential of PneumoCLART bacteria® in identifying M. pneumoniae as a causative agent of pneumonia in hospitalized adults. Methods This prospective study used a cross-sectional approach to assess the diagnostic potential of PneumoCLART bacteria® for detecting M. pneumoniae in sputum samples procured from 27 patients with pneumonia who required hospitalization. Results The PneumoCLART bacteria® results illustrated that 7 of 27 patients with pneumonia were positive for M. pneumoniae (26%). However, the quality of sputum varied among the M. pneumoniae-positive and M. pneumoniae-negative samples. Fifty percent of the specimens obtained from patients positive for M. pneumoniae were saliva-contaminated and unsuitable for analysis. Conclusions Because the leukocyte count was low and sputum specimens were saliva-contaminated, these findings require further validation to prove the utility of CLART® microarray technology for the identification of M. pneumoniae in pneumonia-positive patients. Conclusively, this prospective study included a small number of clinical samples, which likely affected its outcomes.

Characteristics and risk factors for invasive fungal infection in hospitalized patients with acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure: a retrospective cohort study from 2010 to 2023

“…In the early stage of ACHBLF, inflammatory cytokine storms are the dominant process ( Arroyo et al, 2021 ), followed by immune paralysis or failure in the late stage ( Fernández et al, 2018 ; Barros et al, 2023 ). Pathogen-associated molecular patterns exert inhibitory effects on monocytes and lead to reduced myeloid monocyte numbers ( Inoue et al, 2018 ; Weichselbaum et al, 2020 ), and defective bactericidal and antimicrobial capacity of neutrophils ( Taylor et al, 2013 ; Tjoa et al, 2022 ). Moreover, metabolic dysfunction of immune cells has been shown to be a potential contributor to the onset and progression of ACHBLF ( Li et al, 2022 ), which facilitates bacterial and fungal infection and aggravates liver injury.…”