The start of the holidays also traditionally marks the start of an increase in respiratory diseases. Doctors say pneumonia is already increasing.
Walking pneumonia has been on the rise across the country, including here in the Philadelphia region, where younger children are particularly hard hit.
Shannon Wolf was surprised when her 7-year-old son Cole became ill with a respiratory illness that wouldn’t go away
‘He was exhausted. He couldn’t get up,” Wolf said. ‘And then it started to get worse. So he didn’t get better. He started getting fevers every now and then.”
She is a pediatric nurse and used to seeing sick children, but the persistent symptoms became concerning.
CBS Philadelphia
“My head hurt, my throat hurt and my stomach hurt,” Cole Wolf said.
This second-grader from South Jersey was eventually diagnosed with walking pneumonia.
“It’s caused by a bacterium called an atypical bacterium called mycoplasma pneumoniae,” says Dr. Rashida Shakir of Virtua Health.
Shakir said walking pneumonia is generally a less serious form of lung infection.
“There’s some kind of fluid and inflammation and it looks like a white area,” she said.
CBS Philadelphia
And it is moving. In October, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an advisory to doctors that cases of walking pneumonia have increased significantly, especially among young children. It is unclear why.
“Initially it will kind of infect the throat and trachea, which we call bronchitis,” Shakir said. “It causes fever and coughing, and in some cases it can spread to the lungs.”
Shakir said walking pneumonia spreads like other respiratory diseases — through the air — and she expects more cases to occur.
“As people spend more time closer together around the holidays, this will likely spread,” she said.
“I feel like every time you get together with family or friends during the holidays, they’re going to get sick with something,” Shannon Wolf said.
But now that Cole Wolf has been treated with Azithromycin, he is having fun again.
Doctors say that while cases of walking pneumonia are on the rise, influenza, COVID-19 and RSV are currently relatively low, but are expected to increase with holiday travel and festivities. Doctors say wearing masks in crowds can reduce the risk, along with frequent hand washing.
