CBS News Infections with the illness known as “walking pneumonia” or “white lung pneumonia” have been spreading at unusually high levels in young kids, emergency room data suggests, a year after a surge of such cases filled hospitals overseas.
The worst rates of the illness, caused by the bacteria Mycoplasma pneumoniae, are in young children ages 2 to 4 years old, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures shared with CBS News.
“Since late spring, the number of infections caused by M. pneumoniae has been increasing, especially among young children,” the CDC said in a statement Friday.