The hospitals report it ongoing pneumonia Infections in children are increasing across the country, raising questions about whether they are peaking and whether the trend is unusual this year.

CTVNews.ca spoke with various medical experts to find out the latest situation with the typically mild pneumonia in their area and whether parents should be concerned.

Why are cases increasing?

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) does not officially monitor Mycoplasma pneumonia, whose non-medical term is walking pneumonia, but it said the Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network is watching for any “unusual” activity involving the disease. The contagious pneumonia caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae bacteria is common in young adults and school-age children, although it can affect anyone, it said.

More cases have been reported in Ontario’s Hamilton area this year than in previous years, including before the pandemic, although most infections are mild, according to Dr. Sarah Khan, an infectious disease specialist at McMaster Children’s Hospital.

Khan said there have been increases in pneumonia in the past. The number of cases tends to be higher in the fall and infections begin to decline as winter approaches, she said, noting that it may be too early to tell if cases have peaked.

“We basically saw it peak towards the end of October,” Khan said. “And the last two weeks here in November we’ve started to see a decline so that can be reassuring.”

In September, more than 400 swabs tested positive for walking pneumonia while the number dropped to about 200 to 250 positive swabs so far this month, she said.

The reasons for the increase are unclear, says Khan.

“I think that’s the million dollar question as to why this spike is now,” she said, noting some who believe it may be because children today are not exposed to the same pathogens as they were before the pandemic.

The IWK Health Centre, a large women’s and children’s hospital in Halifax, has seen an increase in cases of walking pneumonia. This year, 147 cases of pneumonia due to Mycoplasma pneumoniae were recorded so far this year, a marked increase from the 11 cases the hospital treated in 2023.

The number of cases this year is the highest so far with 47 in September. The data for October is incomplete.

BC Children’s Hospital has also recorded an increase in cases since August. The BC Center for Disease Control is seeing a higher number of cases than in previous years, especially among people under the age of 20.

“The BCCDC continues to monitor the situation closely but has not observed a noticeable increase in infections since October,” the BC Center for Disease Control and BC Children’s Hospital said in a statement to CTV News on Thursday.

HSC Children’s Hospital in Winnipeg says it’s seeing a similar pattern with pneumonia in general.

“The number of pediatric patients presenting to the ED with pneumonia this fall is higher than last year but not unlike the numbers seen in some previous years,” a Shared Health spokesperson said in a statement to CTVNews.ca on Thursday.

Shared Health, a health authority in Manitoba, said it does not have information on how many cases are ongoing of pneumonia caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae bacteria.

“The reasons why we are seeing higher numbers of cases of bacterial pneumonia are not clear, but these numbers vary from year to year, and we have certainly seen different patterns in respiratory and other infectious diseases since the Covid-19 pandemic.” said.

Health officials are monitoring the situation as it has received reports of “increased circulation” of the disease in Quebec and in other countries, Marie-Christine Patry, spokeswoman for the province’s Ministry of Health and Social Services, said in an email translated from French to CTVNews.ca on Thursday .

She said outbreaks tend to occur in late summer and early fall, with cyclical outbreaks that can occur every three to five years.

Is the increase unusual?

Dr. Earl Rubin of Montreal Children’s Hospital told CTV News on Thursday that there are still no clear numbers because Canada does not track this disease. He said he and his colleagues at hospitals across the country have observed one unusual nail in severe and more complex cases of ganglion pneumonia that affected much younger patients since the summer.

With children back in school, he suggested it is not surprising that cases are increasing again, noting that it can take up to a month for symptoms to appear.

It’s uncertain why this trend is happening, Rubin said, noting that children’s hospitals see rare symptoms of the disease, such as rashes and brain problems.

The walking pneumonias occur from time to time, Khan said.

“Surges can occur, but they’re usually transient, and they tend to come back,” she said. “So, this is not unusual in a way, but it’s definitely higher than what we would say is typical for us.”

Much younger children from ages two to four can get pneumonia, according to Khan.

“The numbers have been much higher and we’re also seeing it in younger populations than we’re normally used to seeing it in,” Khan, also an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at McMaster University, said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca on Thursday. She cited data from the Hamilton Regional Lab Medicine Program which covers most of the Hamilton region. She estimates the lab had hundreds of positive test results for walking pneumonia.

Advice for parents

Doctors say parents have no reason to panic since then ongoing pneumonia is usually mild and can usually be treated at home with over-the-counter medicines such as paracetamol or ibuprofen.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone who develops a cough needs to rush out, go get tested or go get antibiotics for this infection,” Khan said.

While there is no preventive vaccine for pneumonia, PHAC said, most people recover without any treatment and only severe cases may require antibiotics.

Doctors advise those who are sick with cough and fever to stay at home until they recover.

People with compromised immune systems are more vulnerable to getting severe walking pneumonia, including those receiving cancer treatment and who have lung problems such as cystic fibrosis.

They advise those who may have severe symptoms to see their primary care provider. These include a fever and cough that worsens or lasts more than seven days. Breathing problems, frequent vomiting due to a cough, or a fever that doesn’t go away more than three days after taking antibiotics for pneumonia, according to Shared Health.

Adolescents who have difficulty breathing, develop pale or blue lips, vomit antibiotic doses, are not taking fluids or appear very ill should go to the emergency room, it added.

Outbreaks of walking pneumonia occur mostly in crowded places such as schools, college dormitories, military training facilities, long-term care facilities and hospitals, according to PHAC.

Patients under the age of five may have various symptoms, such as runny nose, wheezing, diarrhea and vomiting without pneumonia and fever, PHAC added.

With files from CTV National News Multi-Skilled Journalist Sarah Plowman