Mycoplasma pneumonia causes
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Causes
Etiologic Agent: Mycoplasma pneumonia is a type of atypical pneumonia. It is caused by the bacteria M. pneumoniae. This type of pneumonia usually affects people younger than 40. Various studies suggest that it makes up 15 - 50% of all pneumonia cases in adults and even more in school-aged children.
People at highest risk for mycoplasma pneumonia include those living or working in crowded areas such as schools and homeless shelters, although many people who contract mycoplasma pneumonia have no identifiable risk factor.
Mycoplasma pneumoniae, a small bacterium. This class of organisms lack a peptidoglycan cell wall present on all other firmicute bacteria. Instead, it has a cell membrane which incorporates sterol compounds, similar to eukaryotic cells. It obtains these sterols from the host serum, allowing it to retain a simple structure. Lacking a cell wall, these organisms are resistant to the effects of penicillins and other beta-lactam antibiotics, which act by disrupting the bacterial cell wall.
M. pneumoniae has one of the smallest genomes known, with 816 kilobase pairs (kbs). Its genome and proteome has been fully characterized. It uses some unique genetic code, making its code more similar to mitochondria than to other bacteria. Thus it is said that Mycoplasma pneumoniae has a degenerate genome. It lacks the cellular machinery for making many essential compounds, including new purines and pyrimidines. It also has no tri-carboxylic acid cycle and an incomplete electron transport chain. Because of this, it is an obligate parasite.