Impact of COVID-19 on the Epidemiological Features of Mycoplasma pneumoniae Infection in Children with Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Henan, China

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is an atypical pathogen that can cause respiratory tract and extrapulmonary infections, the most common of which is community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) (1). It typically accounts for 10% to 40% of pneumonic pathogens in children and adolescents, whereas the proportion increased to 20% to 70% during the epidemic period (2). Coinfection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and M. pneumoniae was also reported; the proportion of cases may have reached 26% (3). Nonpharmaceutical interventions such as social distancing and mask wearing were taken to prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, which may also prevent the transmission of other respiratory tract pathogens (4). Hence, epidemiological monitoring is required to reveal the prevalence of M. pneumoniae infection.