Acute respiratory distress syndrome during the COVID-19 pandemic: not only SARS-CoV-2

P M Meyer Sauteur; G-R Kleger; W C Albrich

doi:10.1016/j.nmni.2020.100836

Acute respiratory distress syndrome during the COVID-19 pandemic: not only SARS-CoV-2

New Microbes New Infect. 2021 Mar:40:100836. doi: 10.1016/j.nmni.2020.100836. Epub 2021 Jan 1.

Authors

P M Meyer Sauteur¹, G-R Kleger², W C Albrich³

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
² Division of Intensive Care, Cantonal Hospital St Gallen, St Gallen, Switzerland.
³ Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, Cantonal Hospital St Gallen, St Gallen, Switzerland.

Abstract

A previously healthy 30-year-old woman developed severe ARDS at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 infection was suspected, but testing was negative. Mycoplasma pneumoniae was detected by PCR in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and blood. This case illustrates that M. pneumoniae infection can progress to septicemia and ARDS with severe respiratory failure in young healthy adults.

Keywords: Acute respiratory distress syndrome; Mycoplasma pneumoniae; extracorporeal membrane oxygenation; pneumonia; sepsis.