United States: As per recent reports, certain infections with an illness called “walking pneumonia” or “white lung pneumonia” are reported to be rising at unprecedented levels in young kids, as emergency room data suggested.
This news come from the US, a year after a surge of such cases filled hospitals overseas.
More about the news
As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures, the worst-case illnesses from the bacteria Mycoplasma pneumoniae are observed in young children ages 2 to 4 years old, as CBS News reported.
CDC stated, “Since late spring, the number of infections caused by M. pneumoniae has been increasing, especially among young children.”
Moreover, around 7 percent of emergency room visits of sick patients with pneumonia in this age group were reported to be infected with the bacteria through late September.
Experts suggest that this figure has “dropped slightly” from a peak of more than ten percent in August.
According to the agency, “The increase in 2–4-year-olds is notable because these infections have historically been thought to affect school-age more than younger children,” CBS News reported.
Rising cases of the disease
The numbers are based on data from the CDC’s National Syndemic Surveillance program, which analyses data from emergency departments.
It mirrors an increase recorded by testing firm BioFire Diagnostics, which is in line with trends that have grown to be more than 14 times what they were at this period last year.
According to a CDC representative, levels are currently the highest in two regions in the middle of the country, Texans through Iowa.
Multiple other states have now also alerted doctors of surges from Mycoplasma pneumoniae.
Thursday, the Wisconsin health department stated on Friday that they get reports of growing “unusual pneumonia cases” from physicians across the state.
The Health officials in Illinois stated that they had found “several clusters reported in schools throughout the state,” along with an increase in data from testing labs.
Increased hospitalization
Several hospitals have also shown an increase in children with pneumonia due to Mycoplasma pneumoniae alongside many other germs such as rhinovirus and enterovirus. They are usually the culprits for the sickness known as the common cold, but they also cause other severe illnesses.
The trends of rhinovirus and enterovirus submitted to the CDC also increased in recent weeks and are approaching rates seen during the previous wave during the fall season.
According to Virginia-based health system VCU Health, “It’s likely to worsen with pollen and mold counts rising, colder weather keeping everyone inside, and the holidays bringing people together,” CBS News reported.
This differs from researching for unusual surges; not all hospitals have experienced this. In Pennsylvania, for example, the state’s health department issued a reminder in recent weeks that cases of Mycoplasma pneumoniae were high, but several health systems CBS News spoke to said that they haven’t detected yet that cases are increasing in their areas.
Dr. Marian Michaels, a specialist in pediatrics and surgery for Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, said that it was “too early to tell for sure” if this year’s wave would amount to an unusual increase in hospitalized patients.
According to Michaels, “The numbers are perhaps increasing a bit but are still below the pre-pandemic levels for now.”