Detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae from cerebrospinal fluid samples of pediatric patients

Central nervous system manifestations are probably the most frequent extrapulmonary complications of infections due to Mycoplasma pneumoniae, occur mostly in children. In this study, we attempted to isolate M. pneumoniae and to detect the organism by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from cerebrospinal fluid samples (CSF) of pediatric patients. Of the 244 CSF samples, no M. pneumoniae was isolated. Six (2.5%) of the CSF samples were positive by PCR amplification. More effort are necessary to isolate the organism from CSF samples in order to ascertain the role of M. pneumoniae in causing neurological complications.