As "walking pneumonia" spreads, ER visits surge for sick babies

Nationwide rates of exigency country visits for babies with Mycoplasma pneumoniae are connected way to surpass rates for school-age children, information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows, arsenic doctors nationwide are grappling with a surge of "walking pneumonia" cases. 

The caller figures travel from the CDC's National Syndromic Surveillance Program, which gathers data connected pneumonia-associated exigency country visits from U.S. hospitals.

While cases had been higher successful school-age kids compared to different property groups, rates successful babies person surged successful caller weeks, and are present tied with older kids. According to the latest CDC data, for the week ending Nov. 2, 7.6% of exigency section pneumonia cases for babies 0-1 years aged and children ages 5-17 years aged resulted successful Mycoplasma pneumoniae diagnoses.

"These diagnoses dropped a small aft August, but remained precocious done aboriginal November. Of note, diagnoses among 0–1-year-olds person steadily accrued passim the autumn without immoderate consequent decrease," CDC spokesperson Jasmine Reed said successful a connection Tuesday.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, cases mostly disappeared. CDC officials had said that this year's question could beryllium heralding a instrumentality to waves of Mycoplasma pneumoniae cases that occurred anterior to the pandemic. 

But this year's inclination has besides been unusual, since cases had antecedently been thought to beryllium communal lone successful school-aged kids, not younger children.

"While we are seeing close present that it is presenting arsenic a emblematic respiratory infection, we privation to marque definite that determination isn't thing antithetic going connected with the bacteria itself oregon the mode it's showing up that mightiness springiness guidance successful however to dainty and forestall it," Dr. Adam Cohen, caput of the CDC's pneumonia branch, told Medscape News earlier this month. 

According to Reed, portion each U.S. portion is seeing an summation successful Mycoplasma pneumoniae cases, the CDC's information suggests that since astatine slightest last month — erstwhile respective states archetypal began to rise concerns implicit the surge — the ERs of 3 regions specifically are seeing the highest levels of the bacteria. 

One is successful the South and spans Texas and its neighbors Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico. The second is successful the Midwest and includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. The 3rd is successful the Northeast and includes New York and New Jersey. 

"Maybe it's different 1 of those things that we didn't see, got truly suppressed during COVID, and present it's coming back," said Dr. Jennifer Nayak, part main of pediatric infectious illness astatine Golisano Children's Hospital successful New York. "It conscionable is decidedly a truly atrocious twelvemonth for Mycoplasma." 

Nayak said that astir a 4th of tests from the hospital's microbiology laboratory person travel successful affirmative for the bacteria, which she says is unusually high. 

The infirmary has besides seen an summation successful patients needing to beryllium hospitalized for the bacteria and who are battling a scope of conditions — from lung issues to much analyzable neurological complications — though they stay a fraction of wide cases.

"We've decidedly seen much kids connected the earnestly sick broadside of the spectrum," Nayak said. "Likely not due to the fact that the bacteria has changed, but due to the fact that our rates wide are conscionable higher." 

She cautioned that portion the caller summation has been unusual, determination has not been a batch of information tracking the disease, truthful comparisons to erstwhile waves of the bacteria person been challenging.

"Our tracking of Mycoplasma infections is suboptimal," Nayak said. "This is not thing that is reportable to wellness departments. It has not, until comparatively recently, been intimately tracked."

A spokesperson for the New York State Department of Health said that it has besides tracked a "marked increase" successful Mycoplasma pneumoniae based connected information from the state's exigency rooms, compared to erstwhile years. 

While not each pneumonia cases warrant antibiotics, Nayak said investigating tin beryllium important to springiness answers for children and their families battling persistent oregon superior pneumonia cases, arsenic good arsenic to assistance marque decisions astir however to dainty the infections.

"The amoxicillin your kid is getting due to the fact that they mightiness person an receptor infection, oregon you deliberation you're treating different community-acquired pneumonia, those antibiotics volition not beryllium effectual against Mycoplasma," Nayak said. 

In:
• Pneumonia