The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is in contact with Ohio officials. are also monitoring Parts of the United States are seeing an increase in respiratory illnesses in children, including potentially rising rates of childhood pneumonia. Officials said the reported trend does not appear to be due to new viruses or other novel pathogens, but rather that the increase is due to: Some viral or bacterial causes are expected During the season of respiratory diseases.
“As of today, we are not seeing anything out of the ordinary in terms of pneumonia-related emergency department visits,” CDC Director Mandy Cohen told reporters Friday, adding that “many children” are on respiratory It was pointed out that he had visited the emergency department due to an illness. Influenza and RSV, such as RSV, are viruses that are dangerous to some infants and young children.
The CDC monitors respiratory illnesses overall using data reported daily by about 80 percent of the nation's emergency departments. National data as of Nov. 25 shows that the rate of pneumonia diagnoses in children is not unusual at this time of year, CDC officials said.
Ohio's cases have not caused an undue burden on the state's health care system. The overall trends for respiratory viruses are as follows: Cohen said this is typical for this time of year. “Hospital capacity is fine. Children are recovering at home,” she said. “There is no evidence that these increases are associated with other outbreaks domestically or internationally.”
Respiratory diseases are widespread Infections are rising in most parts of the country, and CDC officials said they expect levels of COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus to continue to increase. “RS virus season is in full swing,” Cohen said, adding that the spread of influenza is “rapidly accelerating.” According to the CDC, COVID-19 remains the leading cause of new respiratory hospitalizations and deaths, with approximately 15,000 hospitalizations and approximately 1,000 deaths each week.
The outbreak in Warren County mistakenly A cluster of childhood pneumonia occurs in northern China. The CDC and independent public health experts monitoring China say the cases appear to be caused by a common mix of respiratory viruses, including influenza, coronavirus and RSV. mycoplasma pneumonia, a type of bacteria that can infect the lungs. All of these pathogens are widespread in the United States.
mycoplasma pneumonia It can cause several types of infections, including chest colds and pneumonia. Although some media outlets have used the term “white lung syndrome” to describe the disease caused by mycoplasma, public health officials do not use this term, and some experts believe that this It warns that the term creates a misleading perception of a dangerous unknown disease.
In fact, it's a fairly common bacterium, and when it causes pneumonia it's not as severe as other types of bacterial pneumonia, which is why it's often called “walking pneumonia,” says Paul, a professor of pediatrics at Children's University.・Mr. Offit said. hospital in Philadelphia. Offit said he had never heard the term “white lung” in reference to the disease. Doctors treat the disease with antibiotics such as azithromycin, but it often resolves on its own.
Since the pandemic, He said parents and doctors should pay more attention to the symptoms of respiratory illness (cough, runny nose, fever, difficulty breathing) because people want to know if it is Covid-19. He said that there is a possibility that “So people are paying more attention to respiratory infections, and more importantly, they're paying more attention to diagnosing them,” Offit says.
Warren County officials said it's unclear why pneumonia cases are on the rise, but they aren't typically reported to health officials.
Clint Koenig, a family physician and medical director for the Warren County Health Department, said there was “no evidence whatsoever of a link to any outbreak within the state or internationally.” “There is no evidence to suggest that this is not caused by the everyday, standard winter bug and causes high rates of pneumonia in children.”
He said a variety of pathogens are behind pneumonia cases, and very few cases are related to mycoplasma.
Koenig said school nurses alerted authorities to the unusually large number of sick students, spurring further investigation and news releases into the pneumonia outbreak. She said the purpose of these announcements is to encourage health care providers to test children who come in with symptoms, and to encourage parents to be careful about washing their hands and keeping their children home if they are sick. He said that the purpose was not to warn the public.
The fall and winter respiratory season is typically a tough time for children's hospitals and pediatric clinics, but doctors say they're more concerned. More about RSV, influenza, and the new coronavirus than pneumonia.
Texas pediatrician Jason Turk said he has treated several cases of suspected mycoplasma pneumonia in the past six weeks, which is not unusual.
“This is a bacterial infection and will cause outbreaks sporadically,” Turk said. “In general, I don't think this is of a magnitude that is surprising to most parents. In some cases, the prevalence of this problem may increase awareness and concern among parents about it.”
Extensive media reports about a pneumonia spike in western Massachusetts were shot down Friday by pediatrician John Kelly. local news outlets How children infected with RSV sometimes develop pneumonia was inaccurately reported As confirmation of the second epidemic. Kelly told The Washington Post that his office has not seen any unusual pneumonia trends or similarities to China. Massachusetts health officials said there is no evidence to suggest a link to mycoplasma and that an increase in childhood pneumonia cases is expected across the state at this time of year.
Mycoplasma, which causes outbreaks in countries every few years, has caught the attention of pediatricians as it resurgences in Europe and parts of Asia for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic, according to a researcher. . recently published papers Published in Lancet magazine.
The researchers found that mycoplasma was most frequently detected in Denmark from April to October, with Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland further behind.
danish health official He said the country typically sees an outbreak of mycoplasma every four years or so, and that he expected cases to increase due to children who have not developed immunity due to COVID-19 restrictions.
