by Jean Leslie

Created on: December 22, 2009

“Walking pneumonia” is a mild type of pneumonia usually caused by the bacterial microorganism Mycoplasma pneumoniae. This contagious disease is spread by droplets from an infected person’s nose and throat, that is, by an infected person’s coughing and sneezing around others. Consequently, those who work in crowded places are more at risk for catching it.

    The symptoms are a mild fever and chills, a sore throat, headache, fatigue, runny nose, pain in the chest, trouble breathing, and weakness. A person with walking pneumonia may also be more at risk for other diseases, such as ear infections, and may develop a rash. Symptoms usually take two or three weeks to appear after you are infected.

    However, the disease is so mild that carriers often do not seek medical help, which is why the disease is called “walking” pneumonia.  A person with it rarely bedridden and may even continue going to work or school.

    Walking pneumonia can be treated with antibiotics, but often subsides on its own. Nevertheless, if you suspect you have the disease, you should consult your physician. You cannot diagnose walking pneumonia by yourself, and you need to be sure that you do not have regular pneumonia which can be fatal if left untreated. Also, though walking pneumonia is usually mild, a person with it can develop serious complications if they do not seek treatment. Coughing up blood and having your skin turn blue are severe symptoms of regular pneumonia. If you have these symptoms you should seek emergency treatment immediately.

    Your physician may diagnose you by asking you questions about your symptoms, listening to your breathing with a stethoscope, x-raying your lungs, and doing a blood test for antibodies called cold agglutinins which are made by your immune system if you have an infection. Their presence shows that you have an infection, not that you have walking pneumonia specifically. However, if your symptoms match walking pneumonia, the test confirms that you need treatment.

    Besides seeking treatment from a physician, a person with walking pneumonia should get plenty of rest, drink lots of nonalcoholic fluids, and avoid greasy foods. He should also avoid infecting others while he is still contagious. Most patients with the disease are contagious for ten days or fewer.

    There is no vaccine to prevent walking pneumonia. The best precautions are to keep yourself healthy, to wash your hands frequently, especially before meals, to cover your mouth when you sneeze and cough, and to ask that others do the same.

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