DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 
South Australia: Hospitalisations of SA kids due to a potentially deadly pneumonia respiratory disease has skyrocketed with worrying symptoms. By Shashi Baltutis
@SAHealth #pneumoniarespiratorydisease #Mycoplasmapneumoniae @auscovid19
The disease is a common cause of pneumonia with lung inflammation, bronchitis and a sore throat but symptoms in rare severe cases can be life-threatening. Women’s and Children’s Health Network clinical director, division of medicine John Widger said the network would “issue a public health warning if required”. “As always, we continue to monitor all cases of pneumonia,” Mr Widger said. He warned that parents should dial triple-0 if their child requires emergency treatment due to the disease. Among those hospitalised was northern suburbs 13-year-old Josie Manto who was left in severe pain and was seriously sick, 7NEWS reported. “Be careful to stop it spreading because having this reaction was a lot worse than just having a disease,” she said. Mycoplasma is spread when an infected person talks, coughs or sneezes which produces small droplets containing the infection and then someone nearby breathes it in. The infection can also spread through contact with hands, tissues and other direct contact with the infected person and develops over a three-week period. Mr Widger said symptoms usually resolve “without any serious complications while cough and weakness may persist for more than a month”. The bug causes between 15 to 50 per cent of pneumonia cases in adults and a higher percentage of illnesses in school aged children. The infection is most common for people aged between five and 20-years-old but can occur at any age.
Professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at UniSA Adrian Esterman said there was “a reasonably simple explanation” for the huge spike in cases. Prof Esterman said the increase in hospitalisations due to the disease may come as a result of relaxed attitudes towards hygiene following the Covid-19 pandemic. “When the pandemic was at its highest, people took precautions,” Prof Esterman said. “They wore face masks and had good hand hygiene and that prevents respiratory illnesses. “Now all of that’s gone.” Prof Esterman said “all of these different pathogens are coming back and whacking us” after a period of caution. Another factor, he said, is that doctors are testing more often for respiratory diseases. The disease itself is not notifiable, so statistics on cases that do not result in hospitalisation are not recorded. “You simply don’t know how many cases there are,” Prof Esterman said. “The actual disease itself is very common and a simple PCR test will show the virus. “For those who get it more severely it can be treated with antibiotics.”