Possible Micoplasma exposure

[kimballot]

My son has been spending lots of time with a friend who had a cough that was thought to be asthmatic. In my typical PANDAS mom worrying way, I thought "I hope it is not mycoplasma". Well.. the kid came over yesterday looking totally wiped and a few minutes later went home. The Dad called and said the boy did not want to say anything because he is embarrassed, but he is on antibiotics now for walking pneumonia. Also, the boy's mother is on antibiotics for double pneumonia. From what I can tell, this has been going on for several weeks, and they were led to believe it was allergy related and were treating it as such.

 

I asked the Dad if it was mycoplasma and he said he did not know -they did not do blood work. The doctor just said "walking pneumonia" and put him on antibiotics.

 

My son is on omnicef and diflucan now and has been on antibiotics since early April.

 

In February and March 2010 my son's M.Pneumoniae IGM was negative (his result 463; ref range <770 is negative), but his IGG was positive (his result >5.0; ref range >1.10 positive). We assumed he had mycoplasma about 2 1/2 years ago when he had a strong OCD exacerbation.

 

 

My questions are:

 

1. Should my son's antibiotic be changed?

 

2. Should I have him re tested for mycoplasma - if so, how long should I wait to do this (how long does it take to "show up" in IGM?)

 

3. What should I look for clinicially? (Right now my son is having some trouble with sleep anxiety - which I had attributed to surgery 2 weeks ago - no tics right now / no obvious OCD behaviors)

 

4. How long should the boys be separated?

 

Any other thoughts always welcome! Thanks!

Edited July 4, 2010 by kimballot

[peglem]

My understanding is that IgM is only elevated on 1st contact w/ microbe, before immune memory is formed. Subsequent exposure only gives a rise in IgG. Anybody know if that is correct?

 

I don't know enough about omnicef to know if its a good mycoP abx or not. But, you need an intracellular abx for myco.

[parents4eyes]

x

Edited July 17, 2010 by parents4eyes

[kimballot]

UPDATE

Ok - so my son seemed to be recovering from his sinus surgery very well. He started day camp this week. Went first two days- was tired at the end, but loved it. Then yesterday he woke up with muscle pains in his abdomen and a stomach ache. Did not eat much breakfast. Called from camp with stomach ache -thought it was from something he smelled in a science experiment that day. Came home - slept - not much dinner - then the fever hit. 101 last night. today -spiked to 104.1. Called local docs and Dr. B. Dr. B got back to me first. Walked me through it and said it sounded more viral than sinus. Then he said "it is probably not bacterial with these symptoms unless it is mycoplasma"..... The bells went off and I remembered about the exposure last week. He put my son on Zithromax and gave me ideas to get the fever down.

 

I am happy to report that the fever is coming down now. Now I just have to cross my fingers that this works.

 

I guess we did not dodge the mycoplasma bullet.

 

Any ideas how long it might take for the fever to subside if this is mycoplasma?

 

Any other ideas / suggestions welcome! Thanks

[thereishope]

Walking pneumonia is Mycoplasma Pneumonaie. Usually, a person would have an unproductive cough and fever. My non-PANDAS had the cough, no fever. It can take up to something like 4-6 weeks to show signs/symptoms of it after contracting it.

Edited July 10, 2010 by Vickie