Originally Published by Fortune.com
Walking pneumonia is what it sounds like, a form of pneumonia so seemingly mild that people with the bacterial illness are often up and about—and inadvertently spreading germs. As the disease continues to circulate nationwide this fall, it’s important to take note of its subtle symptoms.
A bacterium called Mycoplasma pneumoniae causes two types of respiratory tract infections: the more common chest cold, tracheobronchitis, and the less common lung infection, walking pneumonia. Though we’re in the thick of respiratory illness season, the bacterium can spread year round. This year infections spiked in late spring and have remained high, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in mid-October, with the proportion of emergency department patients discharged with a diagnosis of M. pneumoniae-associated pneumonia or acute bronchitis peaking in August.
Such infections tend to be most common among older children and adolescents but in 2024 have been rampant among young children. The CDC reported the following increases in walking pneumonia emergency department visits, as a proportion of pneumonia-associated visits, from March 31 through the week ended Oct. 5:
- 2–4-year-olds: 1% to 7.2%
- 5–17-year-olds: 3.6% to 7.4%
- All ages: 0.5% to 2.1%
Bacterial strain variations generally cause M. pneumoniae infections to peak every three to seven years, according to the CDC. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, interrupted this pattern. After years of low incidence, such bacterial infections reemerged worldwide in 2023.
>>CLICK HERE to Read the Full Article on Fortune.com
