Walking pneumonia cases on the rise in Dallas-Fort Worth
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
A mild form of pneumonia known as "walking pneumonia" is on the rise among young children and teenagers this fall.
Why it matters: It's common for RSV cases to spike around this time of year, but walking pneumonia hasn't been this prevalent since before the COVID pandemic, per Cook Children's Medical Center.
Threat level: Over 2 million people in the U.S. get M. pneumoniae, a bacteria that can cause walking pneumonia, every year, per the CDC.
- The illness has milder symptoms — coughing, congestion and difficulty breathing — than community-acquired pneumonia.
- People with walking pneumonia often don't realize they have it, but their coughing can last weeks.
Zoom in: The Cook Children's hospitals in Fort Worth and Prosper have been slammed with RSV and walking pneumonia cases this fall, Taylor Louden, director of pediatric emergency medicine at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, tells Axios.
- He says the walking pneumonia uptick is the worst he's seen in his 12 years as a doctor, stretching emergency departments even thinner.
- Plus, there's been a shortage of liquid medication used to treat pneumonia and other respiratory illnesses in kids, making it harder for parents to find it quickly.
Pro tips: If your child does get sick, Louden recommends using a humidifier, giving them honey if they're over 1, keeping them isolated from other people and making sure they stay hydrated.
- Walking pneumonia can last up to two weeks.
The bottom line: If your child has significant difficulty breathing, they appear to be turning blue or their fever spikes, take them to the emergency department.
- If they have mild symptoms, consider taking them to their pediatrician instead.
- "If we have a whole bunch of not really sick patients, that makes it hard to take care of the kids that really need us," Louden says.