Pneumonia Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Pneumonia, including details on symptoms, viral, bacterial, treatment, causes, walking pneumonia.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae and central nervous system complications: a review.

Guleria R, Nisar N, Chawla TC, Biswas NR

Department of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi, India. randeepg@hotmail.com

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a common cause of community-acquired pneumonia. Little is known about the extrapulmonary manifestations of this organism. Numerous central nervous system (CNS) manifestations have been described with M. pneumoniae. CNS involvement is probably the most common site of involvement in addition to the respiratory system. Up to 7% of patients hospitalized with M. pneumoniae may have CNS symptoms. Common CNS presentations include encephalitis, aseptic meningitis, polyradiculitis, cerebellar ataxia, and myelitis. The mechanism behind these CNS manifestations remains unclear. Direct invasion, neurotoxin production, or an immune-mediated mechanism has been proposed. Newer diagnostic techniques for the direct detection of the antigen and the microorganism are proving useful for the detection of extrapulmonary disease. This review comprehensively reviews the CNS complications that have been reported with M. pneumoniae.

Published 15 August 2005 in J Lab Clin Med, 146(2): 55-63.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Pneumonia Research Today. All Rights Reserved.