Nov 18, 2024
Watch out for pneumonia
Recently our household went through a bout of illness that we initially thought was COVID, but when we tested for it we were all negative. My daughter had several days off school with a cough that seemed to just be getting worse, and we took her to the local hospital where they did a chest x-ray – and lo and behold it was pneumonia.
Graphic made via Canva
It's definitely not the first thing I would have expected it to be (I think after the last few years all of us immediately assume it’s COVID when we have cold-like symptoms, especially a cough) but apparently it has been going around this year.
I'd be especially careful if you have children or work with them, as it's said to be caused by mycoplasma bacteria and spread most easily among kids. This article from NHK World has a bit more information about some of the record pneumonia highs that Japan has been seeing.
Has anyone you know been affected by the significant numbers of pneumonia this year?
1 Comment
TonetoEdo
on Nov 21
It's easy to miss "walking pneumonia", a condition that peaked in October in Japan. Folks have lower fever and a dry cough. It might feel like a typical cold but it's a mild form of pneumonia. A coffee bar owner in my city tells me she's recovering from it. She looks great now and is slowly getting her strength back.