Comparison of culture and PCR methods for detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae,Chlamydia pneumoniae, and Legionella pneumophila

This study aims at comparing the culture and PCR techniques for the detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and Legionella pneumophila, which are important causes of atypical community-acquired pneumonia ( CAP). this review article is a survey of the published articles consolidated from PubMed and Google Scholar on the topic. out of 24 articles from 1995 to 2022, 16 were selected and screened through the process. The evaluated culture and PCR methods were divided into 8 different types including culture, PCR, qRTPCR, real-time PCR, nested PCR, Duplex Real-Time PCR, multiplex real-time PCR, and in-house PCR. Among these methods,  real-time PCR were the most accurate method for the detection of M.pneumonia. instead, the in-house PCR and Duplex Real-Time PCR have better results than The real-time PCR for the detection of c.pneumonia.

Our comprehensive survey showed that an in-house multiplex Real-Time PCR assay could result in reliable outcomes as a fast diagnosis method for all three bacteria.