United States: There is a continuous rise incases of “walking pneumonia,” alerted the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The flu-like infection has a high transmission rate and has mainly targeted children from the same source.
More about the news
The agency said cases rose from one percent on March 31 of this year to 7.2 percent on October 5 of the same year, of cases involving children aged 2 to 4 and 3.6 percent to 7.4 percent for children 5 to 17.
This condition was covered via an interview on Fox News Digital with Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News’ senior medical analyst.
As the Cleveland Clinic noted, the disease is also termed “atypical pneumonia,” or walking pneumonia, a mild infection.
It has symptoms nearly similar to the flu or a bad cough.
Usually infectious in origin, from bacteria, viruses, or mold, the condition leads to airway inflammation and fluid accumulation in the lungs.
What more is the expert stating?
According to Siegel, “Walking pneumonia is less than a full lobar pneumonia, where an entire region of the lungs is whited out from a bacteria or virus,” Fox News reported.
“Walking pneumonia generally refers to patchy pneumonia, where the pathogen isn’t affecting one specific region of the lung,” he added.
Various symptoms
As per Cleveland Clinic, various symptoms of atypical pneumonia include:
- Sore throat
- Extreme fatigue
- Chest pain or discomfort
- Low-grade fever
- Mild chills
- Coughing (usually the longest-lasting symptom)
- Sneezing
- Headache
One point that differentiates between traditional and walking pneumonia is the type of cough, points out Siegel.
“If you have a rip-roaring, traditional bacterial pneumonia, you’re going to be coughing up green, brown or dark yellow,” he cited.
He added that this condition also does not produce the high fever one would see with a full-blown bout of pneumonia. The name suggests that you may be able to be mobile and carry on interacting with day-to-day activities with this less severe type of pneumonia.