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.
National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
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Kleemola
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Jokinen
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