yes - mycoplasma pneumoniae is transmissible from person to person
its generally regarded as a community-acquired infection - although it hasn't been ruled out that it may also be transmitted by ticks.
it's one of those infections that are out there in the community all the time and passed from person to person.
as far as i recall reading about
it - it is not thought to be extremely contagious though - and prolonged close contact is often needed for transmission to occur. Student accommodation is one of the close contact cases that are quoted. at least this is what i found when researching it as i have a low positive test for it from Armin Labs
the CDC has this to say:
"Most people who spend a short amount of time with someone who is sick with M. pneumoniae do not get infected. However, the bacteria often spread between people who live together since they spend a lot of time together. M. pneumoniae outbreaks occur mostly in crowded settings like schools, college residence halls, military barracks, nursing homes, and hospitals. During school-based outbreaks, if people in the community get sick they are usually family members of ill school children"
https://www.cdc.gov/pneumonia/atypical/mycoplasma/about
/causes-transmission.html#
of course, those of us who are familiar with Lyme may well reason that an element of immune competence will also be at work in many of these infections and some people are likely to fight it off without even knowing while others can become quite ill with it.
the transmission mechanisms are known to be largely via respiratory droplet - and possible surface contact - so all the COVID social distancing and safety measures we are all now familiar with are much the same for this infection.
Post Edited (Garzie) : 2/4/2021 4:57:34 AM (GMT-7)