Mycoplasma are the smallest, free living bacterial organisms--measuring 0.2 to 0.8 micrometers in size, notes Microbiology and Immunology Online, a website developed and provided by the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. Mycoplasma make up the normal flora of the genital tracts and oral cavity. However, in immunocompromised people, certain certain species of mycoplasma--such as Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Mycoplasma hominis and Mycoplasma genitalium--can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, pneumonia and sinusitis.
Lack of Cell Wall
A unique characteristic of mycoplasma is the lack of a cellular wall. A cell wall gives the bacterial organism a rigid cellular structure and helps protect it from osmotic lysis. The lack of a cell wall also makes mycoplasma organisms more susceptible to lysis. The cell wall helps maintain the osmotic balance between the bacterial organism and its environment. Without a cell wall, there is less regulation on what enters in and out of the cell--leading to osmotic imbalance and possibly the destruction and lysis of the cell. The lack of the cell wall also helps mycoplasma organisms survive against antibiotic drugs, because they mostly target the cell wall.
Difficult to Identify
Because mycoplasmas are exceptionally small organisms, they can easily pass through filters used to remove other bacterial organisms. Furthermore, because mycoplasmas lack a cell wall, they can take on many different shapes--making it difficult to identify them even under a high-resolution microscope. Mycoplasmas also lack many metabolic pathways; thus, they require a complex media in order to be identified and isolated.
Infection-Causing Properties
Mycoplasma species are normally a part of the bacterial flora of the oral cavity and genital tracts. In immunocompromised people, certain species of mycoplasma--including Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Mycoplasma hominis and Mycoplasma fermentans--can penetrate the blood and tissue barrier and cause opportunistic infections. According to the United Kingdom-based Morgellons Research Foundation, Mycoplasma homini can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, post-abortion and post partum fevers in immunosuppressed people. Mycoplasma fermentans can cause fatal neurological symptoms. Other Mycoplasma species have been reported to cause systemic infections such as septicemia, neonatal meningitis and encephalitis. Mycoplama pneumoniae is the causative agent for 15 percent to 50 percent of all pneumonia cases in adults and children in school, notes the New York Times Health Guide.
