Health
Surge in walking pneumonia affects these high-risk groups, says Dr. Marc Siegel
Cases of so-called “walking pneumonia” are spiking across the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has alerted.
The highly contagious infection has primarily affected young children, according to the same source.
Between March 31 and Oct. 5 of this year, the percentage of cases grew from 1% to 7.2% among children ages 2 to 4, and from 3.6% to 7.4% among those ages 5 to 17, the agency stated.
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Fox News Digital spoke on camera with Dr. Marc Siegel, senior medical analyst for Fox News, about what people should know about this condition.
What is walking pneumonia?
Cases of so-called “walking pneumonia” are spiking across the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has alerted. (iStock)
Also known as “atypical pneumonia,” walking pneumonia is a “mild lung infection,” as defined by Cleveland Clinic. It tends to feel like a bad cold or the flu.
Typically caused by bacteria, viruses or mold exposure, the condition causes swelling in the airways and fluid in the lungs.
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“Walking pneumonia is less than a full lobar pneumonia, where an entire region of the lungs is whited out from a bacteria or virus,” Siegel told Fox News Digital.
“Walking pneumonia generally refers to a patchy pneumonia, where the pathogen isn’t affecting one specific region of lung.”
Symptoms of the infection
Signs of atypical pneumonia may include the following, according to Cleveland Clinic.
Sore throat, low-grade fever, chest pain and coughing are some of the common symptoms of atypical pneumonia. (iStock)
- Sore throat
- Extreme fatigue
- Chest pain or discomfort
- Low-grade fever
- Mild chills
- Coughing (usually the longest-lasting symptom)
- Sneezing
- Headache
The type of cough is a key differentiator between traditional and walking pneumonia, according to Siegel.
“If you have a rip-roaring, traditional bacterial pneumonia, you’re going to be coughing up green, brown or dark yellow,” he said.
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“But with walking pneumonia, it may be a white mucus … or maybe you don’t have a productive cough at all.”
This condition also doesn’t cause the high fever associated with full pneumonia, he noted.
As the name implies, you may be able to walk around and go about your daily activities with this less severe form of pneumonia.
Coughing is one of the longest-lasting symptoms of walking pneumonia, although it may not be a productive cough. (iStock)
“You’re not walking around with a big looming bacterial pneumonia with a high blood cell count and a high fever and chest pain,” Siegel said.
Even if it seems milder, however, this type of infection could still require medical attention, the doctor warned.
“A doctor who is not on the lookout for this could mistake it for a different kind of virus.”
The condition is easy to miss, as the symptoms are often mistaken for something else, according to Siegel.
“A doctor who is not on the lookout for this could mistake it for a different kind of virus, and not understand that it might actually be an atypical bacterial pneumonia,” he told Fox News Digital.
Causes of walking pneumonia
Several different types of bacteria can lead to walking pneumonia, Siegel noted, primarily Mycoplasma.
“This is the season for Mycoplasma,” he said. “That’s an atypical bacterium that’s treatable with certain antibiotics.”
Bordetella pertussis, the bacterium that causes whooping cough, can potentially lead to walking pneumonia, the doctor warned. (iStock)
Bordetella pertussis, the bacterium that causes whooping cough, can also lead to walking pneumonia.
“There’s been a big resurgence of pertussis this year, particularly in very young children,” Siegel said.
“My concern is that we’re overlooking atypical bacteria that would go away a heck of a lot faster if we treated them with antibiotics.”
Legionella, another bacterium that can cause pneumonia, can spread through water or air conditioning units, he warned.
Certain viruses, such as RSV, can also cause pneumonia.
“Although flu doesn’t usually cause pneumonia, it can cause secondary pneumonia where you get these infections on top of influenza — the same thing with COVID,” Siegel noted.
“Although flu doesn’t usually cause pneumonia, it can cause secondary pneumonia where you get these infections on top of influenza,” the doctor cautioned. (iStock)
The resurgence of these pneumonia-causing bacteria and viruses could be a delayed effect of the masking and lockdowns that occurred during the pandemic, the doctor said.
“On top of that, we’re not as well-vaccinated as we should be,” he said. “And physicians are not on the lookout enough … I’m urging them to be on the lookout for atypical pneumonias.”
Who is at highest risk?
Siegel said he is most concerned about young children getting these atypical bacteria, because they may not have the ability to fend them off due to not having fully developed lungs.
“I’m also concerned about the elderly, the immunocompromised and those with chronic illness — especially lung illnesses like asthma and emphysema, as they may not have the reserve they need to fight it off,” he said.
If a virus is behind the walking pneumonia, it may go away without treatment, Siegel said, but it could be more prolonged.
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“My concern is that we’re overlooking atypical bacteria that would go away a heck of a lot faster if we treated them with antibiotics,” the doctor said.
“Things like mycoplasma, legionella, pertussis — that’s what I’m most concerned about here.”
A health care provider can diagnose walking pneumonia by conducting a physical exam, listening to the patient’s lungs, running blood tests and/or performing a chest X-ray. (iStock)
A health care provider can diagnose walking pneumonia by conducting a physical exam, listening to the patient’s lungs, running blood tests and/or performing a chest X-ray, Cleveland Clinic stated.
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Bacterial pneumonias are treated with antibiotics. For viral pneumonias, over-the-counter medications can help relieve symptoms.
Experts also recommend drinking plenty of fluids, getting lots of rest and keeping the airways open by using a humidifier.
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A new report by the American Heart Association (AHA) included some troubling predictions for the future of women’s health.
The forecast, published in the journal Circulation on Wednesday, projected increases in various comorbidities in American females by 2050.
More than 59% of women were predicted to have high blood pressure, up from less than 49% currently.
The review also projected that more than 25% of women will have diabetes, compared to about 15% today, and more than 61% will have obesity, compared to 44% currently.
As a result of these risk factors, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7%.
The prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke in women is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7% by 2050. (iStock)
Not all trends were negative, as unhealthy cholesterol prevalence is expected to drop to about 22% from more than 42% today, the report stated.
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Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, a cardiologist and founder of Step One Foods in Minnesota, commented on these “jarring findings.”
“The fact that on our current trajectory, cardiometabolic disease is projected to explode in women within one generation should be a huge wake-up call,” she told Fox News Digital.
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“Hypertension, diabetes, obesity — these are all major risk factors for heart disease, and we are already seeing what those risks are driving. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, eclipsing all other causes of death, including breast cancer.”
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S. and around the world. (iStock)
Klodas warned that heart disease starts early, progresses “stealthily,” and can present “out of the blue in devastating ways.”
The AHA published another study on Thursday revealing one million hospitalizations, showing that heart attack deaths are climbing among adults below the age of 55.
The more alarming finding, according to Klodas, is that young women were found more likely to die after their first heart attack than men of the same age.
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“This is all especially tragic since heart disease is almost entirely preventable,” she said. “The earlier you start, the better.”
Children can show early evidence of plaque deposition in their arteries, which can be reversed through lifestyle changes if “undertaken early enough and aggressively enough,” according to the expert.
Moving more is one part of protecting a healthy heart, according to experts. (iStock)
Klodas suggested that rising heart conditions are associated with traditional risk factors, like smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.
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Doctors are also seeing higher rates of preeclampsia, or high blood pressure during pregnancy, as well as gestational diabetes. Klodas noted that these are sex-specific risk factors that don’t typically contribute to complications until after menopause.
The best way to protect a healthy heart is to “do the basics,” Klodas recommended, including the following lifestyle habits.
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Klodas especially emphasized making improvements to diet, as the food people eat affects “every single risk factor that the AHA’s report highlights.”
“High blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, excess weight – these are all conditions that are driven in part or in whole by food,” she said. “We eat multiple times every single day, which means what we eat has profound cumulative effects over time.”
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health,” a doctor said. (iStock)
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health.”
The doctor also recommends changing out a few snacks per day for healthier choices, which has been proven to “yield medication-level cholesterol reductions” in a month.
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“Keep up that small change and, over the course of a year, you could also lose 20 pounds and reduce your sodium intake enough to avoid blood pressure-lowering medications,” Klodas added.
“Women should not view the AHA report as inevitable. We have power over our health destinies. We just need to use it.”
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Nearsightedness (myopia) is skyrocketing globally, with nearly half of the world’s population expected to be myopic by 2050, according to the World Health Organization.
Heavy use of smartphones and other devices is associated with an 80% higher risk of myopia when combined with excessive computer use, but a new study suggests that dim indoor lighting could also be a factor.
For years, scientists have been puzzled by the different ways myopia is triggered. In lab settings, it can be induced by blurring vision or using different lenses. Conversely, it can be slowed by something as simple as spending time outdoors, research suggests.
Nearsightedness occurs when the eyeball grows too long from front to back, according to the American Optometric Association (AOA). This physical elongation causes light to focus in front of the retina rather than directly on it, making distant objects appear blurry.
The study suggests that myopia isn’t caused by the digital devices themselves, but by the low-light environments where they are typically used. (iStock)
Researchers at the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Optometry identified a potential specific trigger for this growth. When someone looks at a phone or a book up close, the pupil naturally constricts.
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“In bright outdoor light, the pupil constricts to protect the eye while still allowing ample light to reach the retina,” Urusha Maharjan, a SUNY Optometry doctoral student who conducted the study, said in a press release.
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“When people focus on close objects indoors, such as phones, tablets or books, the pupil can also constrict — not because of brightness, but to sharpen the image,” she went on. “In dim lighting, this combination may significantly reduce retinal illumination.”
High-intensity natural light prevents myopia because it provides enough retinal stimulation to override the “stop growing” signal, even when pupils are constricted. (iStock)
The hypothesis suggests that when the retina is deprived of light during extended close-up work, it sends a signal for the eye to grow.
In a dim environment, the narrowed pupil allows so little light through that the retinal activity isn’t strong enough to signal the eye to stop growing, the researchers found.
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In contrast, being outdoors provides light levels much brighter than indoors. This ensures that even when the pupil narrows to focus on a nearby object, the retina still receives a strong signal, maintaining healthy eye development.
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The team noted some limitations of the study, including the small subject group and the inability to directly measure internal lens changes, as the bright backgrounds used to mimic the outdoors made pupils too small for standard equipment.
Researchers believe that increasing indoor brightness during close-up work could be a simple, testable way to slow the global nearsightedness epidemic. (iStock)
“This is not a final answer,” Jose-Manuel Alonso, MD, PhD, SUNY distinguished professor and senior author of the study, said in the release.
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“But the study offers a testable hypothesis that reframes how visual habits, lighting and eye focusing interact.”
The study was published in the journal Cell Reports.
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