‘Walking Pneumonia’ Newest Outbreak Hitting Asia, France

According to Forbes, the bacterium that causes mycoplasma pneumonia, also known as “walking pneumonia,” is believed to be at the heart of serious epidemics in some Asian countries, as well as in France, as winter approaches.

Mycoplasma pneumonia is a disease that mainly impacts children and tends to be more prevalent in the winter, Forbes reports. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the disease typically manifests as a mild respiratory system infection, but in some cases, it can be more serious and require hospital care. Common outbreak settings include schools, college residence halls, military training facilities, long-term care facilities, and hospitals.

In China, a rapid rise in pediatric hospitalizations due to respiratory problems this month prompted a meeting between Chinese health officials and the World Health Organization (WHO), as reported by STAT, to determine the causes of the respiratory illnesses. In an interview with STAT, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO acting director of its department of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, spoke about the conversation that took place.

“You hear ‘undiagnosed.’ People think, well, that means they must have ruled everything else out, and therefore it’s probably new,” she said. “You hear ‘clusters,’ which means there’s some people linked in space and time. ‘Children’—which is always alarming—‘with pneumonia,’ which indicates a level of severity. And you hear ‘China.’ So, I think a lot of people were immediately drawn back to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and thought: Oh God. Not again.”

But despite the scary assumptions, Van Kerkhove said, “We’re in a much better place [than the start of the COVID-19 pandemic]. I think the population level immunity is holding up fairly well because of whatever vaccination took place, plus infection over time.” That said, WHO reportedly pointed to an “immunity gap created by the pandemic” (such as social distancing and staying at home) as a reason for the rise in mycoplasma pneumonia cases.

However, Forbes reported that the cyclical nature of mycoplasma infection—such as upticks in 2011, 2015, and 2019—serve as a rebuttal to the immunity gap theory.

In South Korea, according to the Korean Agency for Disease Control and Prevention, the answer to its respiratory infection outbreak has been more clearcut, with 226 (96%) of the 236 hospitalized patients with acute bacterial respiratory infections during mid-November identified as mycoplasma pneumonia.

In France, according to Le Parisien, the country is experiencing a surge in emergency visits for pneumonia in children that has reached levels not seen in at least 10 years and cited the mycoplasma pneumoniae bacterium as the probable culprit. Other countries, including Taiwan and India, remain on alert to possible outbreaks of the disease. As of now, the U.S. CDC has not announced any unusual outbreaks in the United States.

Like many other diseases, mycoplasma pneumonia can be prevented with good hygiene. The CDC suggests the following:

• Covering your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze
• Putting used tissue in a waste basket
• If you don’t have a tissue, coughing or sneezing into one’s upper sleeve or elbow, rather than into hands
• Washing hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds
• If soap and water are not available, using an alcohol-based hand rub.

As a disease with a well-known history, there are also successful treatments for mycoplasma pneumonia, including azithromycin, tetracycline, macrolides, and fluoroquinolones.

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