Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a major causative agent of community-acquired pneumonia which can lead to both acute upper and lower respiratory tract inflammation, and extrapulmonary syndromes. Refractory pneumonia caused by M. pneumonia can be life-threatening, especially in infants and the elderly. Here, based on a comprehensive review of the scientific literature related to the respective area, we summarize the virulence factors of M. pneumoniae and the major pathogenic mechanisms mediated by the pathogen: adhesion to host cells, direct cytotoxicity against host cells, inflammatory response-induced immune injury, and immune evasion. The increasing rate of macrolide-resistant strains and the harmful side effects of other sensitive antibiotics (e.g., respiratory quinolones and tetracyclines) in young children make it difficult to treat, and increase the health risk or re-infections. Hence, there is an urgent need for development of an effective vaccine to prevent M. pneumoniae infections in children. Various types of M. pneumoniae vaccines have been reported, including whole-cell vaccines (inactivated and live-attenuated vaccines), subunit vaccines (involving M. pneumoniae protein P1, protein P30, protein P116 and CARDS toxin) and DNA vaccines. This narrative review summarizes the key pathogenic mechanisms underlying M. pneumoniae infection and highlights the relevant vaccines that have been developed and their reported effectiveness.

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In this work, a selective medium was developed for pyocyanina-dependent qualitative detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in raw microbial samples using electrochemical analysis. To obtain an optimum nutritive formulation, the effect of different media (BYEB, LB, SDB, MHB, TSB, and NB), positive ions (K + , Na + , Ca 2+ , Fe 3+ , and Mg 2+ ) and selected additives (1-naphthylamine, acetamide, and benzylpenicillin sodium) on the amount of synthesized pyocyanin were investigated and compared. NB was found to be the most favourable medium for the electrochemical detection of pyocyanin, and Mg 2+ was shown to be the most effective supporting additive ion for the detection. 1-Naphthylamine was shown to be the most effective supporting antibiotic reagent when supplied in the medium to enhancing the presence of pyocyanina compared to the other two antibiotics. The results indicated that the improved selective medium (ISM) can effectively inhibit/limit the growth of various microorganisms other than P. aeruginosa and obviously enhance the production of pyocyanin in environmental samples that contained P. aeruginosa. This study provided a method for simple and fast electrochemical detection of P. aeruginosa in complex microbial samples.

Penicillenol A2 (isolated from deep-sea fungus Penicillium biourgeianum DFFSCS023) has good antibacterial activity against methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus and in combination with beta-lactam antibiotics it could significantly decrease methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) survival, which provides a novel treatment consideration for MRSA-caused infections.