WEBVTT 00:01.933 --> 00:05.033 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% Just in time for the holidays. A rise in cases of a contagious lung infection 00:05.033 --> 00:09.833 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% across the country is causing alarm, especially for parents of young children. 00:09.833 --> 00:14.833 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% Ali Rogin talks with an infectious disease specialist about what's behind the spike. 00:17.333 --> 00:21.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% ALI ROGIN: The colder months usually mean more time indoors and higher rates of respiratory 00:21.666 --> 00:26.666 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% illnesses like the flu and COVID. But now the CDC is tracking an uptick in 00:28.533 --> 00:31.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% cases of so called walking pneumonia. The respiratory illness usually sickens 00:31.233 --> 00:36.166 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% school aged children and teens. But this year, toddlers are being hit the hardest. 00:36.166 --> 00:40.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Dr. Donald Dumford is the infectious disease specialist at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Dumford, 00:40.633 --> 00:42.866 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% thank you so much for being here. What is walking 00:42.866 --> 00:46.066 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% pneumonia and how does it differ from other types of pneumonia? 00:46.066 --> 00:48.500 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% DR. DONALD DUMFORD, Infectious Disease Specialist, Cleveland Clinic: When we talk about walking 00:48.500 --> 00:52.200 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% pneumonia versus a more classic case of pneumonia, essentially it's typically causing a more mild 00:54.666 --> 00:59.033 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% course of illness. If you think about a typical case of pneumonia, you're going to see abrupt 00:59.033 --> 01:03.933 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% onset of symptoms. Whereas with walking pneumonia, which is typically caused by a bacteria called 01:03.933 --> 01:08.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% mycoplasma, you're going to see kind of a gradual onset over a few days leading to the illness. 01:11.000 --> 01:14.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% So it's going to be a few days where you start to feel poorly, you start to get a cough, 01:16.166 --> 01:18.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% you start to get a fever, and really over about three to five days, you get a fever, 01:18.866 --> 01:22.800 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% headache, muscle aches and then start to get a pretty bad cough with it. 01:22.800 --> 01:25.400 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% ALI ROGIN: What do we know at this point about why toddlers and other 01:25.400 --> 01:30.400 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% young children are being affected so much this year as compared to previous years? 01:32.100 --> 01:34.233 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% DONALD DUMFORD: When you think about mycoplasma, typically we see that 01:34.233 --> 01:39.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% about every three to five years there's a cyclical increase in cases. So normally, 01:40.933 --> 01:44.133 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% no matter what happens, every three to five years you see a rise. We 01:44.133 --> 01:48.133 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% really didn't see that rise that we expected during the COVID pandemic. 01:48.133 --> 01:53.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% So I think right now, because we have probably a higher number of susceptible people, 01:54.800 --> 01:58.233 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% you tend to that there is a lot of higher cases of severe illness, 01:58.233 --> 02:02.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% which is why we're seeing it a lot in the toddler population, along with the classical 02:02.466 --> 02:07.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% school age population, which is usually the population is most severely affected. 02:08.566 --> 02:10.733 align:left position:30% line:83% size:60% ALI ROGIN: How contagious is this? 02:10.733 --> 02:13.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% DONALD DUMFORD: It is pretty contagious. So, you know, the best way we look at this as far 02:13.600 --> 02:18.600 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% as the contagiousness is when you look at how it affects families and if it enters a family, 02:20.566 --> 02:24.333 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% you actually expect that about 80 percent of the other kids in the family are going 02:24.333 --> 02:28.200 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% to get sick, about 40 percent of the adults are going to get sick. 02:28.200 --> 02:33.200 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% And probably, you know, all of us classically will get this probably 02:35.300 --> 02:38.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% three times in our lifetime. One time during our childhood, one time when we're adults, 02:40.066 --> 02:43.266 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% whether our 20s, 30s, 40s, and then probably one time when we're elderly. 02:43.266 --> 02:48.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% ALI ROGIN: Given that we're talking about a post-COVID spike here, are we seeing similar 02:50.400 --> 02:53.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% increases in other respiratory illnesses as well, or is it mainly confined to this one? 02:53.166 --> 02:55.900 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% DONALD DUMFORD: Yes, definitely. The other thing we've seen this year that 02:55.900 --> 03:00.866 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% has had a rather high spike in cases has been whooping cough, 03:02.966 --> 03:06.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% which is caused by a bacteria called Bordetella pertussis. And it's actually something we, 03:08.966 --> 03:12.066 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% most of us or all of us get vaccinated for when we get vaccinated for tetanus and diphtheria. 03:13.833 --> 03:16.000 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% Typically that similarly will have an increase in the number of cases about 03:16.000 --> 03:21.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% every four to five years. But we've really seen a really high increase in the number of cases, 03:22.700 --> 03:26.600 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% probably about three or four times what we would otherwise expect, 03:26.600 --> 03:30.533 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% probably because of that having the lack of that increase in the number 03:30.533 --> 03:35.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% of cases. And I guess the challenge to the population during the COVID years. 03:37.333 --> 03:39.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% ALI ROGIN: And what should parents be looking for to spot whether this 03:39.100 --> 03:42.800 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% is walking pneumonia or something more similar to the common cold? 03:42.800 --> 03:47.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% DONALD DUMFORD: Well, I think what you're going to see in your kids typically the common cold, 03:47.033 --> 03:50.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% you're really not going to have a fever with it. A kid's going to have a runny nose, they're 03:50.400 --> 03:55.400 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% going to have a cough, but they're going to seem otherwise. Well, your kid with mycoplasma, they're 03:57.533 --> 04:00.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% more likely to be complaining of feeling achy and they're going to seem a little more run down. 04:00.866 --> 04:05.866 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% And typically it's going to be associated with a fever. And when that fever sort of persists a 04:08.233 --> 04:10.533 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% little bit longer than you would otherwise expect with a virus, that's when you might start to worry 04:10.533 --> 04:14.800 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% about mycoplasma. I think, really, whenever you see a child that's starting to act a little bit 04:14.800 --> 04:19.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% punky, starting to act a little bit run down, has a fever, it's time to call your pediatrician 04:19.033 --> 04:23.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% to check and see if they should get tested and if they would need antibiotics at that point. 04:23.600 --> 04:27.733 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% We know that some of the measures applied during the height of COVID can help reduce illness, 04:27.733 --> 04:32.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% like washing your hands. But do those measures still apply for other respiratory. Respiratory 04:32.200 --> 04:37.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% illnesses, and are they things that people can employ to help mitigate these cases? 04:37.100 --> 04:41.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% DONALD DUMFORD: Yes, definitely. You know, really, as we enter respiratory season, 04:41.433 --> 04:45.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% you know, whether you're talking about COVID you're talking the flu, you're talking about this 04:45.200 --> 04:50.200 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% ongoing mycoplasma outbreak, you're talking about the other viruses that we tend to get. You know, 04:50.200 --> 04:54.233 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% really all of those common sense measures are things that you should be employing. Washing your 04:54.233 --> 04:59.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% hands is going to be imperative. So you're not taking, you know, a virus you pick up on a table 05:01.133 --> 05:03.300 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% and take it up to your face, which is how you might get it off of a surface. 05:03.300 --> 05:05.500 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% Making sure that you're covering your cough if 05:05.500 --> 05:09.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% you're sick is definitely a big thing. It's really those common sense measures, 05:09.300 --> 05:14.300 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% they're going to protect your viewers from really all of these illnesses, whether it's mycoplasma 05:16.300 --> 05:18.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% or Covid or the flu or the other viruses we tend to see around this time of year. 05:18.933 --> 05:22.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% ALI ROGIN: Dr. Donald Dumford, medical director for infection prevention at Cleveland Clinic, 05:22.866 --> 05:25.533 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% Akron, thank you so much for explaining all this to us. 05:25.533 --> 05:26.933 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% DONALD DUMFORD: Thanks for having me, Ali.