By Glaiza Salanio

On Wednesday, December 6, four confirmed cases of ‘walking pneumonia,’ or Mycoplasma pneumoniae, were recorded in the Philippines, according to the latest Department of Health (DOH) report.

The agency said these cases were detected in individuals with influenza-like illnesses (ILI), which keep increasing throughout the year.

“As of November 25, 2023, there are a total of four confirmed cases of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection among reported ILI cases. These cases have been reported in the previous morbidity weeks 3, 30, 37, and 38, with one case each,” the DOH stated at a briefing.

DOH also assured the public that all four cases have already been recovered.

“All these cases [of Mycoplasma pneumoniae] have recovered. More than half of confirmed ILI cases were due to other well-known and commonly detected pathogens,” the DOH said.

Despite the continuous decline in the coming weeks, the DOH disclosed that ILI cases are expected to rise again at the beginning of January 2024.

Additionally, DOH emphasized that Mycoplasma pneumoniae is not a new pathogen and has been detected across the country before.

The department also said that there are available medicines in the country to treat the pathogen and that local doctors “can easily prevent its transmission.”

Mycoplasma pneumoniae

Last November 30, Health Undersecretary Eric Tayag compared Mycoplasma pneumoniae with COVID-19 because of the same way of transmission.

The infection is so contagious that even before symptoms occur, such as cough, flu, sore throat, fever, and colds, the infected person had already transmitted it via close contact.

“It has the label of ‘walking pneumonia’ because you feel alright, except for COVID, it can easily progress to something that’s terrible,” he said.

Thus, the public was again advised to follow safety health protocols similar to the ones implemented during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Photo from Spot PH