Correlation between Mycoplasma pneumoniae drug resistance and clinical characteristics in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of children with refractory Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia

Background To investigate the resistance-gene mutation of Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of children with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) and the clinical characteristics of refractory Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (RMPP) correlation. Methods Forty-eight children with MPP were selected and placed in RMPP and non-RMPP groups based on their clinical status – whether they had worsening clinical symptoms, persistent fever and a worsening lung image. They were also separated into drug-resistance gene mutation and non-mutated groups using nucleic acid detection. The participants’ data were collected on high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and MP-DNA loads, fever time, hospitalisation time, macrolide antibiotic application time and fever regression time after application. The differences in imaging manifestations were determined by using multivariate logistic regression to analyse the clinical characteristics of RMPP. Additionally, the correlation between drug-resistance gene mutations and the clinical characteristics of RMPP was summarised. Results Among the 48 MPP children, 31 (64.6%) had A2063G and/or A2064G gene mutation, 31 (64.6%) had RMPP and 23 (74.2%) had drug-resistance gene mutation. The children in the drug-resistance gene mutation group had higher high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and MP-DNA loads, longer fever time, hospitalisation time, macrolide antibiotic application time, fever regression time after application and extrapulmonary complications. There were more symptoms and more severe changes under bronchoscopy. The difference was statistically significant (P