A surge of pneumonia cases among children swept through Ohio after the Warren County Health District reported Wednesday that 145 cases of pneumonia among children aged three to 14 had been recorded since August, according to National World.
The overwhelming number of cases resulted in the health district confirming that the spreading disease was considered an “outbreak.”
A recent report showed a sharp rise in cases of Mycoplasma pneumoniae, dubbed “white lung syndrome” or “walking pneumonia,” in both Ohio and China. However, the surge observed in Ohio is not related to the one in China; in other words, the disease has not travelled from one country to the other.
Clint Koenig, a family physician and medical director at the Warren County Health Department, stated:
We have no evidence whatsoever of any connection to any outbreaks statewide or internationally. We don’t have any evidence to suggest this is anything but routine, standard winter bugs causing pneumonia in higher rates in kids.
Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a bacterium that can cause lung infections by damaging the lining of the respiratory system. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the infection can develop into pneumonia, which can also cause shortness of breath. Symptoms include sore throat, sneezing, coughing, headache, mild chills and low-grade fever.
Bacteria are spread through coughing and sneezing among people who spend a lot of time together, such as in homes, schools, and health centres. Since the disease is not accompanied by serious symptoms, most people can recover at home and are treated with antibiotics.
According to Euronews Next, six countries in the European Union or European Economic Area have so far reported an increase in Mycoplasma pneumoniae cases. Some countries, including Denmark and France, have categorised the rise in cases as an “epidemic.”
In Denmark, the State Serum Institute reports that rates stand at epidemic levels, with 541 cases reported last week, more than triple the number in mid-October. Hanne-Dorthe Emborg, a senior researcher at Denmark’s Statens Serum Institute, reported that when more than 10 per cent of tests done by doctors are positive for mycoplasma, it is deemed an epidemic.
Researchers Mike Beeton and Patrick Meyer Sauteur examined surveillance data from 24 countries between April and September 2023 and found that incidence was higher in Europe and Asia. “The most frequently detected cases” in Europe were in Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Wales, they added in a study published in the Lancet last month.
It is noted that Mycoplasma pneumoniae occurs in waves every few years, infecting non-immune children.
