Infections with the illness known as "walking pneumonia" or "white lung pneumonia" have been spreading at unusually high levels in young kids, emergency room data suggests, a year after a surge of such cases filled hospitals overseas. The worst rates of the illness, caused by the bacteria Mycoplasma pneumoniae, are in young children ages 2 to 4 years old, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures shared with CBS News. "Since late spring, the number of infections caused by M.
pneumoniae has been increasing, especially among young children," the CDC said in a statement Friday. Close to 7% of emergency room visits with pneumonia in this age group were diagnosed with the bacteria through late September. This has "dropped slightly" from a peak of more than 10% in August, a CDC spokesperson said.
"The increase in 2–4-year-olds is notable because these infections have historically been thought to affect school-age more than younger children," the agency said . The figures come from the CDC's National Syndromic Surveillance Program , which crunches numbers from emergency rooms. It echoes an increase reported by testing company BioFire Diagnostics, tallying trends that are now more than 14 times higher than this time last year.
A CDC spokesperson said that levels are the worst right now across two regions in the middle of the country, from Texas through Iowa . Multiple other states have also now warned doctors about surges from Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Wisconsin'.