ABSTRACT
This study was carried out on 120 children suffering from acute lower respiratory tract infection, their ages ranged from 1-12 years, and 53 healthy children of the same age groups were included as controls. Detection of M. pneumonia was done by culture of nasopharyngeal aspirate on spiroplasma broth [Sp4] and by serologic methods [CF and ELISA]. In this study, M. pneumoniae was detected in 23.3% of all the children suffering from acute lower respiratory tract infection and 7.5% of normal healthy controls. M. pneumoniae infection was most common in the age group 4-10 years [33%] followed by those aging 10-12 years [20%]. The incidence was low in children < 4 years [6.6%] compared to the other groups. The most common symptoms and signs were cough, fever, constitutional symptoms, rales and wheeze. Bronchopneumonic infiltrate and lobar consolidation were the most common radiological findings