{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T04:17:06Z","timestamp":1787026626285,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,7]],"date-time":"2026-04-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1775520000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The COVID-19 pandemic and non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) have altered the global epidemiology of respiratory pathogens, including\n                      <jats:italic>Mycoplasma pneumoniae<\/jats:italic>\n                      (MP). However, the impact of MP infection on children with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in Ganzhou, China, remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the epidemiology and clinical outcomes of MP infection among hospitalized pediatric CAP patients in Ganzhou, China.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We retrospectively analyzed 27,369 hospitalized pediatric CAP patients (2017\u20132024), comparing MP positivity, seasonality, age distribution, and severity across pre-pandemic, NPIs, and post-NPIs phases.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Among 27,369 CAP patients, 3,334 were MP-positive (12.18%). The positivity rate dropped during Phase II (3.78%, 158\/4,183) then rebounded sharply in Phase III to 21.17% (2,385\/11,268), exceeding the pre-pandemic baseline (\u03c7\u00b2=45.65,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u00a0&amp;lt;\u00a00.001). The seasonal pattern exhibited changes, with the spring positivity rate increasing from 4.06% (146\/3,594) in Phase I to 19.94% (577\/2,893) in Phase III (\u03c7\u00b2=505.33,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u00a0&amp;lt;\u00a00.001). Regarding age distribution, the 7\u201310 years age group showed the highest positivity rate 30.76% (638\/2,074; \u03c7\u00b2=1,789.43,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u00a0&amp;lt;\u00a00.001). However, in Phase III, the 4\u20136 years group exhibited a significant rise to 29.79% (883\/2,964), compared with 13.00% (184\/1,415) in Phase I and 7.87% (41\/521) in Phase II (\u03c7\u00b2=226.65,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u00a0&amp;lt;\u00a00.001). In the 1\u20133 years group, the proportion of severe pneumonia reached its highest numerical proportion in Phase II (14.55%, 8\/55), which was significantly greater than the proportions in Phase I (2.56%, 8\/313) and Phase III (10.21%, 82\/803; \u03c7\u00b2=20.08,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u00a0&amp;lt;\u00a00.001). Notably, both the median hospitalization duration and the rate of mechanical ventilation for severe pneumonia were significantly higher in Phase I than in Phases II and III.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>After the relaxation of NPIs, pediatric MP infections among hospitalized pediatric CAP patients in Ganzhou not only rebounded strongly but also exhibited a shift in epidemic peaks toward spring, alongside a notable change in susceptibility among younger children.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2026.1765265","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,7]],"date-time":"2026-04-07T04:26:45Z","timestamp":1775536005000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Impact of COVID-19 on the epidemiological features of mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in children with community-acquired pneumonia in Ganzhou, China"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Guihua","family":"Lai","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Genetics, Ganzhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital","place":["Ganzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhiyong","family":"Lai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Genetics, Ganzhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital","place":["Ganzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jungao","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Genetics, Ganzhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital","place":["Ganzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fucheng","family":"Peng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Laboratory, Ganzhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital","place":["Ganzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qiying","family":"Gu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ultrasound Medicine, Ganzhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital","place":["Ganzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijid.2017.06.020","article-title":"Respiratory viruses detected in Mexican children younger than 5 years old with community-acquired pneumonia: a national multicenter study","volume":"62","author":"Wong-Chew","year":"2017","journal-title":"Int J Infect Diseases: IJID: Off Publ Int Soc For Infect Dis"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2689","DOI":"10.3390\/v14122689","article-title":"What\u2019s next for flu? 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