This has been found. Moreover, in asymptomatic adults mycoplasmal infections have been found in very low incidence. More of the mycoplasma must be recoverable from diseased patients than from those without disease. This has been found with M. fermentans , but usually not until the disease has progressed. Follow up studies on recovered patients indicate that they reverted to mycoplasma-negative phenotypes.
Recovery is achieved only with antibiotics that are effective against the pathogenic mycoplasmas.
The mycoplasma must cause a similar disease in animal models using monkeys. Injection of M. fermentans resulted in development of fulminant disease that leads to death. The mycoplasma must cause a similar disease when administered to human subjects. The mycoplasmas were not administered to volunteers because of ethical considerations to investigate if they cause a similar disease. To our knowledge this has not been done.