Outbreak of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection among hospital personnel studied by a nucleic acid hybridization test.
An outbreak of Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) infection occurred during the period March-May 1989 among the personnel of the Accident and Emergency Department of the Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland. The index patient was a young male orderly, who fell ill with severe pneumonia. His tracheal mucus sample proved to be strongly positive for MP when tested by a commercial DNA-RNA hybridization test (Gen-Probe). After the index patient two additional staff members (an orderly and a nurse) fell ill with pneumonia and 66 others showed symptoms of upper respiratory infection or fever. The most frequent symptoms were a sore throat, a cough, rhinitis and headaches. All 97 employees of the department were tested for the presence of MP in April-May 1989 using throat swabs as test material. Forty-three (44%) were found to be positive for MP by the 'Gen-Probe' test. Eight (19%) of the MP positive staff were completely asymptomatic. The MP positive staff were retested about 3 weeks later, whereupon 40 (93%) had become negative. Most of the persons involved in this outbreak suffered only from mild respiratory symptoms, suggesting that MP outbreaks like the present one may easily pass unnoticed.
Kleemola
M
M
National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
Jokinen
C
C
D000328:Adult; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D004917:Erythromycin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006746:Hospital Bed Capacity, 500 and over; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009177:Mycoplasma pneumoniae / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010564:Personnel, Hospital; D011019:Pneumonia, Mycoplasma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D004917:Erythromycin