JakartaPost-Dec 4, 2023
The Jakarta Health Agency has reported an unspecified number of suspected Mycoplasma pneumoniae cases among children, only days after the Health Ministry called for increased surveillance against the bacterium that is thought to be behind a recent pneumonia outbreak in northern China. The agency’s epidemiological surveillance and immunization head Ngabila Salama said on Sunday that several children had been diagnosed with M. pneumoniae infection after their polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for the bacterium returned positive results. M. pneumoniae typically affects younger children, and symptoms include coughing and sore throat. The illness is usually mild, and doctors sometimes call it “walking pneumonia” for this reason. Ngabila declined to reveal how many children had been infected, only saying that health authorities were running more tests to determine how many cases were linked specifically to M. pneumoniae. This was because it was common for children to be infected concurrently with other viruses that caused pneumonia-like symptoms, such as influenza viruses, adenovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). “The main symptom is shortness of breath. [But infected children] might require extended hospitalization if their condition is serious,” Ngabila said, as quoted by Kompas.id. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2023/12/04/jakarta-reports-infections-linked-to-mystery-pneumonia.html.
