Application of real-time quantitative PCR and ELISA in diagnosis of mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia of children

Objective To compare the reliability,advantages and disadvantages of fluorescent quantitative real-time PCR and ELISA in clinical detection of mycoplasma pneumoniae in children,so as to find a more accurate and rapid detection method.Methods Four hundred and forty-six patients with respiratory tract infections were collected from pediatrics department of this hospital and grouped by age.Throat swab specimens were sampled from these cases to detect mycoplasma pneumoniae DNA(MP-DNA) by quantitative real-time PCR,and blood specimens were collected to detect the mycoplasma pneumoniae IgM(MP-IgM) by ELISA.Results The total positive rate of MP-DNA was 37.00% in the 446 cases,and that of each age group was39.44%,37.31%,35.11% and 28.95% respectively,showing obvious negative correlation with age.While the total positive rate of MP-IgM was 37.44% in the 446 cases,and that of each age group was 18.89%,46.27%,50.00% and 63.16% respectively,showing obvious positive correlation with age(P 0.05).Quantitative real-time PCR showed higher positive rate than that of ELISA.Conclusion There was no statistical difference between quantitative real-time PCR and ELISA in detection of mycoplasma pneumoniae in children,but the positive rate of quantitative real-time PCR was higher than ELISA in patients under 1 year old(P 0.05).Combination of the two methods can better guide the clinical treatment of pediatric mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia.