Her 2-year-old’s condition has improved following nearly three weeks of rattly breathing, congestion, runny nose, “a junky-sounding cough” and a recurring itchy rash covering him head to toe, Hardeman said. On Saturday, a doctor diagnosed her 1-year-old with the infection.

“It was definitely scary,” she said of her 2-year-old’s symptoms.

The Daily News interviewed three local doctors, each of whom has seen a surge in cases among children. Dr. Suman Shekar, a Med Center Health pediatrician, said more adults than usual have contracted Mycoplasma pneumonia – but what’s especially unusual is the surge among children.

“Normally, we did not see Mycoplasma pneumonia previously in (the) pediatric age group,” she said.

Over the past few months at The Medical Center, emergency room physicians say that diagnoses of walking pneumonia have surged from under 1% to around 5% for pediatric patients, primarily ages 2-12, she said. Dr. Kelly Bennett, a pediatrician at Graves Gilbert, said that starting around four to six weeks ago, the illness has become approximately 10 times more prevalent than it was at the same time last year for her patients, who are 18 and under. Dr. Augusta Mayfield, an internist and pediatrician at Norton Children’s, said that starting around two to three weeks ago, she’s seen around two to three times the cases of atypical pneumonia, which includes walking pneumonia, compared to the same time last year among her patients who are school-age children, mostly age five to 15.

Nationally, the percentage increased among all age groups April through Oct. 5, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Children experienced the greatest increase in that period, with the percentage increasing from 1% to 7.2% for children 2 to 4, and from 3.6% to 7.4% for those 5 to 17, the CDC stated.

No organization has confirmed the reason for the surges.

Advice, treatment

While symptoms are often similar to the common cold’s, the doctors said a lengthy persistence of symptoms can be a potential indicator of walking pneumonia. Shekar added that walking pneumonia is commonly contracted following other diagnoses such as Covid or the flu.

Shekar and Mayfield recommended seeking medical attention if symptoms last five to seven days; Bennett suggested seeing a doctor if symptoms don’t improve after three to five days.

Those with more severe symptoms such as a high fever or trouble breathing should seek medical attention sooner, Bennett said. Pain in the lower-right part of a person’s chest when breathing in deeply or coughing is another symptom that warrants seeking medical attention, Mayfield said.

“The reason we are worried about this is the prolonged course of the disease,” Shekar said.

Generally, symptoms are mild, according to the CDC. Bennett said the main symptoms are a fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, nasal congestion and sneezing; it can also cause headaches and rashes, while the latter is “fairly unusual,” she said. Rarely, it’ll cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, Shekar said.

Children 5 and under are most vulnerable to significant symptoms, she said.

The three doctors said the antibiotic Azithromycin treats it; three to five days of antibiotics will solve the problem, Shekar said.

She added that if walking pneumonia worsens, and a child is coughing a lot, it can spread to others; this, she said, is the reason to catch it early and take antibiotics if needed.

“The body also has an innate mechanism to clear this on its own, but it takes … around four to six weeks,” Shekar said.

All three pointed to handwashing as a way to prevent the spread.

“Mycoplasma is mainly spread by respiratory droplets,” Mayfield said. “Somebody will cough on a surface, someone will come and touch the surface and then touch their nose or face; so, lots of handwashing helps.”

Until parents see their child’s doctor, they can give a weight-appropriate dose of Ibuprofen or Tylenol for a fever, Bennett said, adding that children over the age of 1 can have a teaspoon of honey to help with the cough. She also encouraged fluid intake such as water or Pedialyte.

Improving nutrition, sleep and stress levels where possible helps as well, Mayfield said.

For families with multiple children, Shekar recommended taking “basic precautions,” including keeping children separate to prevent the pneumonia’s spread and having them wash hands and wear masks. Still, she said, the illness has a long incubation period, which means one child’s exposure will probably lead to another’s in the same household.

Returning to school

Judgment, naturally, is used when considering whether to keep a sick child home from school or childcare.

Shekar said children can “definitely” return to school after 24 hours of being symptom free.

Bennett said that before a child returns to school, they should for at least 24 hours be fever-free, which she defined as under 100.4 F; she added that people tend to have fevers when they’re more contagious. Mayfield corroborated that that’s usually the answer, pointing to the need of patients to work within the constraints of work and school, and that realistically, a child probably still spreads the virus at that point: “If they’re having a really harsh coughing, they’re sending respiratory droplets pretty far.”

“It’s really hard to get it under control when mom has to go to work, mom gives the child Tylenol to keep them from having a fever in daycare so she can stay at work,” Mayfield said. “So, I guess illness kind of becomes political: People have to go to work, so kids go to daycare sick often, and school, too.”

Added Bennett, “I think it’s hard to say completely symptom free, because kids go to school every day with coughs, they go to school every day with runny nose and congestion … I think that symptoms improving and fever free is kind of reasonable for a lot of our families, but I think if they are unsure if their child is unsafe to go back to school or not, then call their kids’ doctor.”