Paediatric centres in Chennai continue to see children with mycoplasma pneumoniae infections

Respiratory infections, including mycoplasma pneumoniae, continue to affect children in Chennai, prompting doctors to emphasize prompt diagnosis and treatment.

There is no let-up in respiratory infections in the city. Some of the paediatric centres in Chennai continue to see children with mycoplasma pneumoniae infections.

Over the past few weeks, doctors have been diagnosing children with infection caused by mycoplasma pneumoniae, a bacteria. In this season of respiratory infections, doctors raise the need to keep in mind mycoplasma pneumoniae infections to enable prompt diagnosis and treatment.

“We are still seeing a lot of cases of mycoplasma pneumoniae and viral pneumonia. Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection causes fever, cough and rash in children. Cough is the predominant symptom. It is known as walking pneumonia. Doctors usually take a chest X-ray to identify mycoplasma pneumoniae infection. A blood test (IgM) or nasopharyngeal swab (PCR) is done,” Janani Sankar, medical director, Kanchi Kamakoti CHILDS Trust Hospital, said.

She said that mycoplasma pneumoniae could at times cause complications such as haemolytic anaemia and vasculitis. Complications could be due to a number of factors such as delayed diagnosis/reporting late for treatment, virulence of the organism and host factor.

“The flu is still around, and is causing hypoxia requiring Intensive Care Unit admission in some children. We are seeing cases of flu and mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in older children - aged five and above, and bronchiolitis caused by Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) in younger children,” Dr. Janani added.

J.K. Reddy, senior consultant, Paediatrics, Apollo Children’s Hospital, said that cases of mycoplasma pneumoniae infections were being seen for the last two months. “In this season, mycoplasma pneumoniae infections should be thought of if symptoms in a child do not improve and if tests for other viruses such as influenza and RSV return negative. We should think of mycoplasma pneumoniae infections if a child has a high grade fever not settling in three days, bad cough and cold, breathing difficulty or breathing unusually, reduced urine output and poor oral intake and must reach a doctor,” he said.

Dr. Reddy added that cases of influenza A and B viruses are still around and vaccination before the start of monsoon will ensure protection.