FORT WORTH, Texas — Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth on Monday reported a recent "significant" spike in cases of Mycoplasma pneumonia, a bacteria that can cause what's known as "walking pneumonia," officials said.
The hospital reported that 80 out of 398 patients last week tested positive for pneumonia, a positivity rate of 20%, compared to 0% this time last year, according to a news release.
The total number of cases seen at Cook Children's this year is much higher than any of the previous five years, with up to 100 cases in late June. None of the previous five years saw the number of cases rise above 20.
Hospital officials said children are likely spreading the bacteria while in close contact at summer camps or in swimming pools. The bacteria is spread through respiratory droplets.
The infection causes cold-like symptoms that can be treated at home. However, about 10% of children who get infected could have more severe symptoms, especially if they have pre-existing conditions like asthma, the hospital said.
While mycoplasma pneumonia is typically seen in children under the age of 6, cases this summer have been identified in every age group, the hospital said, from infants to adolescents.
Severe symptoms include: Prolonged coughing, fever, rashes in the mouth, conjunctivitis (pink eye) and large blisters and rashes on the skin. If a child has a fever for more than five days or difficulty breathing, they should visit the Cook Children's Emergency Department, the hospital said.
Symptoms can appear 1-4 weeks after someone has been exposed to the bacteria, and they can last for several weeks. And that's part of what makes this particular bacterial infection unique, said Dr. Nicholas Rister, a Cook Children's infectious disease specialist.
"While a lot of bacterial infections can be very invasive and very obvious you're sick quite quickly, mycoplasma can actually start very slowly and live inside your body with not a lot of inflammation at first," Rister said.
Dr. Stephanie Felton, who works as a pediatric emergency medicine physician in Cook Children's' emergency room, said a couple key indicators of mycoplasma are rashes in the eye, such as pink eye, and within the mouth.
"If you look in the back of the mouth of your kids, you might see little bumps in the back of the throat," Felton said. "That could be very painful when they're drinking or eating."