Symptoms of mycoplasmosis (mycoplasma infection)

The incubation period of mycoplasmosis (mycoplasma infection) lasts 1-3 weeks, sometimes 4-5 weeks. The disease can occur in various clinical forms: from mild catarrh of the upper respiratory tract to severe confluent pneumonia.

Catarrh of the upper respiratory tract begins gradually, with a rise in body temperature to subfebrile values, runny nose, loss of appetite, dry, painful cough. Older children complain of general weakness, malaise, chills, body aches, headache, dryness and sore throat. In the following days, body temperature often rises, reaching a maximum of 38-39 ° C on the 3rd-4th or even on the 5th-6th day from the onset of the disease. At the height of clinical manifestations, pallor of the face, sometimes hyperemia of the conjunctiva, injection of scleral vessels are noted. Headache, dizziness, chills, sleep disturbance, sweating, pain in the eyeballs, sometimes abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, some enlargement of the liver, lymphadenopathy are possible. In general, the symptoms of intoxication in most patients at the height of the disease are poorly expressed and do not correspond to a long-lasting fever. Changes in the oropharynx and respiratory tract are noted. The mucous membrane is slightly or moderately hyperemic, on the back wall of the pharynx there are signs of pharyngitis with an intensification of the pattern and an increase in follicles. Older children sometimes complain of a sore throat, dryness and awkwardness when swallowing. Nasal breathing is usually difficult, there are symptoms of bronchitis. At the beginning of the disease, the cough is dry, from the 4th-5th day, scanty sputum appears. Sometimes symptoms of croup join. Hard breathing, inconstant scattered dry wheezing are heard in the lungs.

On the radiograph of the lungs, an increase in the bronchovascular pattern and expansion of the roots, signs of moderate emphysema are consistently visible.

In the peripheral blood there is slight leukocytosis, neutrophilia; ESR is increased to 20-30 mm/h.

Mycoplasma pneumonia can be focal or lobar. Pneumonia can develop from the first days of the disease, but more often it appears on the 3rd-5th day of the disease. The body temperature rises to 39-40 °C. However, the severity of the fever does not always correspond to the severity of pneumonia; sometimes mycoplasma pneumonia occurs with subfebrile or normal body temperature.

The main clinical symptoms of mycoplasma pneumonia are progressive changes in the lungs with relatively weak symptoms of intoxication. Signs of damage to the nasopharynx may be expressed, but often with the development of pneumonia they weaken or are even completely absent. Some patients experience rhinitis, hyperemia of the mucous membrane of the oropharynx, pharyngitis. Sometimes pneumonia is accompanied by damage to the pleura. Clinically, this is manifested by chest pain, increasing with breathing, sometimes it is possible to listen to the noise of pleural friction.

At the height of lung damage, the general condition is usually moderately impaired. In young children, intoxication is manifested by general weakness, loss of appetite, and lack of weight gain.

In the peripheral blood there is a tendency towards moderate leukocytosis, a shift in the leukocyte formula to the left, lymphopenia, monocytopenia; ESR up to 30-40 mm/h.

Congenital mycoplasma infection. Intrauterine infection with mycoplasmas can lead to spontaneous abortion or death of the fetus immediately after birth. In these cases, mycoplasmas can be found in almost all organs of the stillborn. Inflammatory changes in the lungs and other organs are noted. Intrauterine mycoplasmosis is manifested by premature birth or low birth weight, pneumonia, pale skin with a gray or yellow tint, hemorrhagic syndrome, the appearance of meningoencephalitis in the middle to end of the first week of life. In premature babies, scleroma and cephalohematoma may also be present.

[ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ]