Isolation and identifiction of mycoplasma from the lower respiratory tract in bronchoscopy patients.

With the identification of the Eaton agent (Mycoplasma pneumoniae) as a pleuropneumonia-like organism (PPLO) or mycoplasma came the suggestion that other mycoplasma should be sought for the role they might play in producing respiratory disease in man (1). Mycoplasma are common inhabitants of the upper respiratory tract in normal subjects (2-6). There is no report, however, of a systematic study of the lower respiratory tract with respect to the presence of mycoplasma in either normal subjects or in patients .. This report concerns the findings of such a study of material gathered during routine bronchoscopies for a variety of conditions.