Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a human pathogen that causes a form of atypical bacterial pneumonia, and is involved in upper and lower respiratory illnesses. It is a bacterium in the shape of a short rod, lacking a cell wall, which belongs to the class Mollicutes. The diagnosis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae is generally undertaken with serological testing or PCR, as the organism is difficult to grow in the laboratory. RCPAQAP Serology offers quality assurance testing for Mycoplasma pneumoniae serology and the survey data from 2013 to 2015 has been reviewed here.

In the RCPAQAP Serology Mycoplasma pneumoniae surveys in 2013, 2014 and 2015 between 79 and 83 participants returned results. Of these, approximately half are international participants.

Results returned included IgG, IgM, IgA and Total Antibody testing by a variety of different methods including Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA), Chemiluminescence (ChLIA), Immunofluorescence (IFA), Particle Agglutination Test (PAT) and Complement Fixation Test (CFT). The majority of participants have performed IgG and IgM testing or Total Antibody testing only. From the first survey in 2013 to the most recent survey in 2015, we have seen a subtle shift in the testing of IgG and IgM with a move from the manual EIA methods towards the automated ChLIA methods.

Of the 30 IgG, IgM or Total Antibody results that were reviewed in the five surveys, 24/30 (80%) obtained consensus (80% or greater agreement of the result). Of these, seven (23%) obtained 100% consensus of participant results. Discrepancies in the Total Antibody testing appear to be due to variable cut-off values (due to the subjective nature of the test), whereas the discrepancies in the IgG and IgM testing are due to the specimen type (plasma and heat-inactivated serum) or due to the result value being close to the cut-off.

Overall participants have shown good concordance for the Mycoplasma serology surveys.