As cases of “walking pneumonia” have gone up in the United States this year, especially among children, doctors in central Pennsylvania are seeing rising numbers too.
Jared Maurer, a family medicine physician at Mount Nittany Health’s Philipsburg office, said they’ve been treating a lot of people for mycoplasma pneumonia infections.
“Typically the symptoms of those kinds of things are a chest cold kind of symptoms," Maurer said. "So you might have some sore throat, but mainly, a lot of cough, potentially some fever, some fatigue as well.”
Maurer said the Mount Nittany system has seen about an eightfold increase in cases of mycoplasma pneumonia this fall compared to fall of last year.
That’s in keeping with what’s been happening nationally. In October, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said respiratory infections caused by the bacteria mycoplasma pneumoniae have increased in the United States, especially in young children.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health is reporting high levels as well, noting that some hospitals and college health centers are seeing clusters of cases.
Maurer said walking pneumonia tends to cause milder symptoms, especially in young people. He recommended staying hydrated and keeping an eye on the symptoms.
“If you have a child with sick symptoms, including cough, some of that chest congestion, sore throat, it is reasonable to observe over the course of about a week, and if they're certainly not having any sort of improvement, or feel like they're starting to have some worsening, it would certainly be a reasonable time to have them evaluated," he said.
Walking pneumonia is spread by water droplets from coughing and sneezing. So, washing your hands and covering your mouth if you’re coughing or sneezing are also recommended.
