South Jersey 7-year-old and his mother recount their experience with walking pneumonia
The start of the holiday season also traditionally marks the beginning of an increase in respiratory illnesses. Doctors say walking pneumonia is already spiking.
Walking pneumonia has increased all over the country and here in the Philadelphia region, where younger children are being especially hard hit.
Shannon Wolf was puzzled when her 7-year-old son Cole got sick with a respiratory illness that wouldn't go away
"He was exhausted. He couldn't get up," Wolf said. "And then he started getting worse. So he wasn't getting any better. He was starting to get a fever on and off."
She's a pediatric nurse and used to seeing sick kids, but the lingering symptoms became concerning.
"My head hurt, my throat hurt, and my stomach hurt," Cole Wolf said.
This South Jersey second grader was eventually diagnosed with walking pneumonia.
"It is caused by a bacteria that we refer to as an atypical bacteria called mycoplasma pneumoniae," Dr. Rashida Shakir with Virtua Health said.
Shakir said walking pneumonia is generally a less serious kind of lung infection.
"There is sort of fluid and inflammation and it appears as this white area," she said.
And it's on the move. In October, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an advisory for doctors that cases of walking pneumonia have increased significantly, especially among young children. It's unclear why.
"At first it will infect sort of your throat, your windpipe, what we call a bronchitis," Shakir said. "It will cause a fever and cough. Then in some cases, it can spread into the lungs."
Shakir said walking pneumonia is spread like other respiratory illnesses — through the air — and she's expecting to see more cases.
"As people spend more time in closer proximity around the holidays, that it is likely to spread," she said.
"I feel like every time you get together with family or friends on the holidays, they end up getting sick with something," Shannon Wolf said.
But now after being treated with Azithromycin, Cole Wolf is back to having fun.
Doctors say while cases of walking pneumonia are up, flu, COVID-19 and RSV are relatively low right now, but that's expected to increase with holiday travel and festivities. Doctors say wearing masks in crowds can reduce the risk along with frequent hand washing.
