Pathogenic Mycoplasma Infections in Chronic Illnesses: General Considerations in Selecting Conventional and Integrative Treatments

The presence of pathogenic mycoplasmas in various chronic illnesses and their successful suppression using conventional and integrative medicine approaches are reviewed. Evidence gathered over the last three decades has demonstrated the presence of pathogenic mycoplasma species in the blood, body fluids and tissues from patients with a variety of chronic clinical conditions: atypical pneumonia, asthma and other respiratory conditions; oral cavity infections; urogenital conditions; neurodegenerative and neurobehavioral diseases; autoimmune diseases; immunosuppressive diseases; inflammatory diseases; and illnesses and syndromes of unknown origin, such as fatiguing illnesses. Only recently have these small intracellular bacteria received attention as possible causative agents, cofactors or opportunistic infections or co-infections in these and other conditions. Their clinical management is often inadequate, primarily because of missed diagnosis, under- and inadequate treatment and the presence of persister or dormant microorganisms due to biofilm, resistence and other mechanisms. Pathogenic Mycoplasma species infections have been suppressed slowly by anti-microbial and integrative treatments, resulting in gradual reductions in morbidity, but not in every patient. Even if mycoplasmas are not a cause or an initial trigger for many chronic illnesses, they appear to play important roles in the inception, progression, morbidity and relapse of chronic illnesses in rather large patient subsets. Ignoring such infections can result in failure to achieve eventual patient recovery, even with application of potentially curative treatments.