Global spatiotemporal dynamics of Mycoplasma pneumoniae re-emergence after COVID-19 pandemic restrictions: an epidemiological and transmission modelling study

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a major cause of respiratory tract infections. We aimed to investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics, antimicrobial resistance, and severity of the delayed re-emergence of infections with M pneumoniae after the implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) against COVID-19.

Epidemiological data (positive and total test numbers, and macrolide-resistant M pneumoniae detections) and clinical data (hospitalisations, intensive care unit [ICU] admissions, and deaths) were collected through our global surveillance from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2024. The moving epidemic method (MEM) was used to establish epidemic periods, and the time-series susceptible-infected-recovered (TSIR) model to investigate the delayed re-emergence.