Medicine: Mycoplasmas have disappeared since the corona pandemic

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“The longer it takes, the more exciting it gets,” said study leader Patrick Meyer Sauteur of Children’s Hospital Zurich, at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency on Tuesday.

Before the pandemic, mycoplasma (Mycoplasma pneumoniae) was one of the most common bacterial causes of pneumonia in children. However, with the measures taken against Covid-19, there was a decrease in infections. According to Meyer Sauteur, this can also be observed for other pathogens. With the exception of mycoplasma, almost all of these returned after the measures were lifted.

An international research team led by Meyer Sauteur has explored the question in a new study published in the famous journal The Lancet Microbe: are mycoplasmas gone forever?

Exactly how things will continue cannot be said with certainty at this time. “But we assume the mycoplasma will come back,” said Meyer Sauteur. After all, they did not completely disappear. There are still isolated cases of infection.

But the question is: when? According to Meyer Sauteur, this information is important for hospitals and for choosing an effective treatment. “Monitoring is the beginning and end of everything here,” says Meyer Sauteur.

Because after three years of absence, immunity in the population also decreased. If the pathogen comes back, this can cause more and sometimes more serious infections. However, thanks to ongoing worldwide monitoring, a quick response is possible.

However, the exact reason for absenteeism is not clear. The researchers suspect a link between the slow production time of mycoplasmas (six hours; other conventional bacteria about 10-20 minutes) and its slow spread (1-3 weeks incubation period). (SDA)

Source : Blick