Mycoplasma Walking Pneumonia

[Tolley]

Has anyone had experience with this before?

Most of our floor in the office tested positive including me. I was sent home today but I dont have any real symptoms apart from feeling a bit lethargic. I dont have any coughs colds or fever and they want me to take these whopping big antibiotic pills.

Is it really necessary?

[Sheryl]

What exactly do you mean by tested positive? What sort of test? Have you had a chest Xray?

If you have neither cough nor fever, it is unlikely you have mycoplasma pneumonia. And in any event it would require a chest xray to diagnose.

[Tolley]

What exactly do you mean by tested positive? What sort of test? Have you had a chest Xray?

If you have neither cough nor fever, it is unlikely you have mycoplasma pneumonia. And in any event it would require a chest xray to diagnose.

They did a blood test and it came back 1:80 for mycoplasma......BTW I am in Singapore....and they said i had to take this course of antibiotics broad spectrum Amoxi somethng....and stay away for three days....seems like overkill!

[Sheryl]

That sounds like amoxicillin but would make no sense as mycoplasma is not sensitive.

Are you sure it is not doxycycline (which would make sense)? or azithromycin?

Blood test measures antibodies and thus only indicates that you at some point in time contacted mycoplasma. It does not mean you have a current infection. A finding like that in itself would be of no significance but assuming it is in the context of someone who was working in close quarters with people who came down with mycoplasma pneumonia, then it is likely that you acquired it recently at work. You might have contacted it a while ago and successfully contained it without getting ill, or you might be on the verge of getting ill. In any case the intent of the antibiotic treatment (assuming it is an antibiotic to which mycoplasma is sensitive) is to contain a workplace outbreak, not to treat on an indiovidual basis. In other words treating you is meant to prevent you possibly spreading the infection to others even if you yourself are not ill.