Doctors and parents are warning of a rise in “white lung” pneumonia among American children, a year after a frightening outbreak abroad.
The infection, caused by the bacteria Mycoplasma pneumoniae, especially affects children between two and four years old who were born during the Covid pandemic.
More than 10 percent of emergency room visits with pneumonia in this age group were diagnosed with the bacteria at its peak in August.
The CDC said this was unusual “because M. pneumoniae has not historically been recognized as a leading cause of pneumonia in this age group.”
In Baltimore, Alexis Geddes sat by her three-year-old daughter Alma’s hospital bed for four nights as three-year-old Alma struggled to breathe.
Mrs. Geddes told the Baltimore flag: ‘It’s very scary when your child can’t breathe. And the whole place was full of children trying to breathe.
The infection is nicknamed “white lung” because of the characteristic white spots it leaves on x-rays of patients’ lungs.
Alma Geddes, centre, is pictured with her siblings as she remains in a Baltmore hospital where she was treated for mycoplasma pneumonia.
Already small, Alma lost weight on a diet of bacon and strawberries, the only foods she could digest.
Her big blue eyes look even rounder against her thin cheeks.
Alma was given azithromycin at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, which is the standard treatment for mycoplasma pneumonia.
Finally, Alma’s lungs began to recover. GBMC staff gradually took her off oxygen and she was discharged, eager to be reunited with her siblings and her beloved dog, Cybele.
But Alma, who has to be woken up every four hours for nebulizer treatments, remains very fatigued. His mother is also exhausted.
Mrs Geddes said: “I think we both still feel like we’ve been hit by a bus.”
Data on discharge diagnoses of M. pneumoniae from March 31 to October 5, 2024 show an increase in cases across all ages, peaking in August and remaining elevated.
Among children two to four years old, the percentage of cases increased from one percent to more than seven percent, and for children five to 17 years old, it increased from 3.6 percent to 7.4 percent.
However, the actual number of children and adults with mycoplasma pneumonia is unknown because there is no national surveillance system to track these infections.
Three-year-old Alma was one of several children that doctors at Greater Baltimore Medical Center have treated so far this year with pneumonia.
Alma Geddes remained in the hospital for three nights and four days until doctors were able to take her off oxygen and antibiotics.
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, defined what parents have called “white lung pneumonia” as a term to describe one of the telltale signs of mycoplasma pneumonia.
He told DailyMail.com: ‘It turns out there is a particular type of bacteria (M. pneumoniae) that is not that well studied but occurs at (irregular) periods for reasons we don’t really understand. And it causes this pneumonia, which fortunately is treatable.’
Unlike viruses like the flu and RSV, which tend to strike in the colder months, outbreaks of mycoplasma infections can also occur in seemingly random clusters at schools and military bases at any time of the year.
The most prominent symptom is a lot of coughing, but others include a fluctuating fever, along with lethargy and fatigue.
While most patients have lung congestion that can be detected with a stethoscope, not all do. Additional symptoms may include headaches, sore throat, and, less commonly, a rash.
Dr. Schaffner added: “It turns out that last year and this year we could call it a kind of big wave of mycoplasma infections, so there has been a lot more talk about the concept or white lung syndrome than in many other years.”
White masses in the lungs represent fluid-filled air sacs that infectious disease experts say indicate mycoplasma pneumonia.
Hospitals in Fort Worth, Texas, have seen an increase in the number of children coming into the emergency department and being diagnosed with mycoplasma pneumonia.
In July, Cook Children’s Medical Center reported that 80 of the 398 patients The tests came back positive, resulting in a 20 percent positivity rate across the health care system compared to zero percent last summer.
And in Washington, D.C., doctors at National Children’s Hospital saying: “We have seen an increase in detection in recent weeks.”
In Texas, Stephanie Parks watched her youngest son, Caleb, struggle to breathe in an ambulance on the way to Cook’s Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth, where he was tested and diagnosed with mycoplasma pneumonia.
Caleb had what doctors concluded was strep throat on Oct. 10, and when doctors examined his lungs, he said, they sounded “crystal clear” and assumed his difficulty breathing was related to allergies.
“Two days later we were in the emergency room,” sayingadding: ‘If your child coughs and has difficulty breathing, make sure they have a chest x-ray and are tested for mycoplasma pneumonia. It’s a throat sample. Demand it.’
Stephanie Parks, left, is pictured with her family. Their son Caleb, second from left, was hospitalized for almost a week with mycoplasma pneumonia.
A bacterial infection becomes pneumonia when it travels from the upper respiratory tract (nose, throat, and upper bronchi) to the lower respiratory tract and infiltrates the lung tissue.
To test for mycoplasma pneumonia, nurses take a swab from the nose and throat and send the sample to a laboratory to test whether the bacteria’s DNA is present.
Doctors often take x-rays to examine the lungs. While X-ray cannot diagnose mycoplasma pneumonia itself, it can help doctors detect inflammation and fluid buildup, which appears as white masses.
Last year, mycoplasma outbreaks were reported in several states, including Massachusetts and Ohio, as well as in Europe and China.
The world saw a low incidence of this bacterial infection during the Covid pandemic, when millions were isolated from other germs.
Dr. Vinay Gupta, a Seattle pulmonologist, said this summer’s new surge is unexpected: “If you look back over the last 30 years, you’ll see that there are spikes in transmission every three or four years.
‘So what we saw in 2023, in 2027 maybe we will see something similar. But right now it’s anyone’s guess whether that will actually be the case or not, because COVID has greatly distorted, in some ways, the way we understand (these diseases).”