Walking pneumonia is on the rise but treatable with the right antibiotic, doctors say

Doctors say they are seeing an unusual spike in walking pneumonia cases in parts of Canada, particularly in kids, but their message for parents is not to panic, as treatment options are available.

Doctors say they are seeing an unusual spike in walking pneumonia cases in parts of Canada, particularly in kids, but their message for parents is not to panic, as treatment options are available.

Walking pneumonia is a mild form of pneumonia that often presents as a fever, cough or fatigue, but a small subset of severe cases can leave patients short of breath in need of oxygen or with high fevers that won’t break.

At Montreal Children's Hospital, infectious disease division director Dr. Earl Rubin says he’s noticed more cases in toddlers, which is younger than the typical school-age and young adult demographic the bacterial infection usually impacts.

“The numbers are increasing and we're seeing more severe cases where people need to be admitted to hospital and have some complications,” says Rubin, who has been observing this since late spring and early summer.

The “unusual” increase could be because of a lowered immunity post-pandemic, leaving more people susceptible to the infection. It’s also highly contagious – infecting one in three people in a household – and has an incubation period that can last a month, along with no vaccine to prevent it, says Rubin.

In the U.S., the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported in October a rise in walking pneumonia, especially in young children, over the last six months, peaking in late August.

Although public health agencies don't track walking pneumonia in Canada, health-care providers in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia tell The Canadian Press they're seeing more cases.