Mycoplasma pneumoniae has come to be recognized as a worldwide cause of primary atypical pneumonia. Apart from respiratory tract infections, this organism is also responsible for producing a wide spectrum of non-pulmonary manifestations including neurological, hepatic, cardiac diseases, hemolytic anemia, polyarthritis and erythema multiforme. This review includes some of the newer aspects of the knowledge on this pathogen, clinical characteristics of infections, how it causes disease, radiology and various laboratory tools in diagnosis, differential diagnosis and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]