When a baby coughs severely or has a fever, doctors always give them a mycoplasma test. If the baby is tested negative for mycoplasma, there is no problem. If it is positive for mycoplasma, the doctor will prescribe some antibiotics for treatment. What does it mean that the baby is positive for Mycoplasma?
If the baby is positive for Mycoplasma, it indicates that the baby is infected with Mycoplasma, which is a bacterium between bacteria and viruses. Because mycoplasma can easily cause pneumonia, it is named Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Babies infected with Mycoplasma often have high fever, body temperature above 39 degrees Celsius, and a dry cough that is irritating, with cloudy shadows on chest X-rays.
The incubation period of Mycoplasma positive infection in babies is relatively long, which can reach two to three weeks. Most patients present with symptoms such as pharyngitis, rhinitis, and tracheitis, as well as fever, headache, cough, fatigue, and loss of appetite.
Mycoplasma infection in babies may also cause lesions in organs other than the respiratory tract, such as hepatitis, arthritis, nephritis, myocarditis, meningitis, etc. Therefore, it is important to diagnose and treat Mycoplasma positive cases in babies in a timely manner. There are several common detection methods for mycoplasma positivity, one is rapid culture method, and the other is antibody detection method. Antibiotic treatment should be chosen for its treatment.
