United States: Health officials are basically warning people to watch for symptoms of Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia which is ultimately a type of lung infection that can be ultimately more serious. There has been a rapid increase in the overall cases of this infection in New Jersey and across the United States since late spring.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has already noticed more and more people, mainly children, who are going to the emergency room with this type of pneumonia. The number of cases is growing, mainly hereby in the children who ages between 2 years-4 years and 5 years – 17 years.
“The rise in kids ages two to four years: While M. pneumoniae was considered previously not the cause of pneumonia in young children especially those aged two to four years this is apparent this year,” the CDC said in a report on October 18.
As reported by the nj.com, similar incidence of M. pneumoniae is reported in New Jersey, as revealed by the advisory that the New Jersey Department of Health published last week.
As reported by the M. pneumoniae infections are frequent, and the CDC estimates that at least two million people in the United States get infected each year.
Although, currently, it is possible to state that the number of these infections is unknown because there is neither national reporting or any special surveillance system that might detect the bonafide incidence of these organisms.
The state Department of Health did not reply to questions about numbers in New Jersey on Tuesday.
M. pneumoniae is usually not severe, and most of the time it is similar to chest congestion, although it can be pneumonia, according to the CDC. This can be accompanied by a fever, cough, and a sore throat. An older child may present as feverish with coughing, while young children may present with diarrhea, whistling sound in the lungs, vomiting, or all the mentioned symptoms.
They might feel a little worse than they would expect from a lung infection because the symptoms are most often mild. They might not remain at home and can cause harm to other when outside. For this reason, medical professional have termed the M. pneumoniae-associated pneumonia ‘the walking pneumonia’, the CDC says.
The illness which hereby mainly acquired through respiratory droplets disseminated when an infected individual coughs or sneezes. To eliminate the spread of the virus, residents should wash their hands often and ensure that they cough and sneeze with their clothes covered.
Because most of the cases become apparent from school going children and the adolescent, the New Jersey Department of Health is urging schools to inform their local health department of these incidences in order to check for possible outbreaks.