Real-Time PCR and Quantitative Culture for Mycoplasma pneumoniae Load in Pharyngeal Swabs from Children at Preliminary Diagnosis and Discharge

Table 1

Positive rates of samples with various M. pneumoniae DNA loads.

DNA load (copies/mL)	Positivity
	Preliminary diagnosis	Discharge
<10^3	50.0% (1/2)	40.0% (6/15)
10^3–10^4	89.5% (51/57)	55.6% (25/45)
>10^4	91.0% (30/33)	66.7% (18/27)

Five DNA negative samples were excluded. The positivity was defined as the ratio of positive samples to total samples.