AMID a surge in respiratory illnesses in China, the Department of Health (DOH) yesterday said it is monitoring the possible presence of the “mycoplasma pneumoniae” bacteria in the country.
DOH spokesman Undersecretary Eric Tayag said the department has directed the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) to check on the presence of the bacteria known to cause “walking pneumonia” after it was detected in China.
He said bacteria “is not usually subjected to testing by doctors.”
“Normally, doctors go directly to antibiotics with these cases,” he added.
Tayag said the bacteria, which “is not a new pathogen,” has also caused a surge in respiratory illnesses in The Netherlands.
Tayag said the bacteria is not fatal as many are still able to live normally despite being afflicted with it.
“It is also called walking pneumonia because many are still able to go about their day-to-day business,” said Tayag.
Nevertheless, he renewed their call for the public to avoid self-medication, especially involving antibiotics, since the bacteria is 95 percent drug resistant.
“If you take antibiotics without doctors’ prescription, you self-medicate, drug resistance really happens,” he said.
Based on DOH data, 158,762 pneumonia cases have been reported from January to October 2023. This is 45.68 percent higher than the 108,982 cases reported during the same period of 2022. — Gerard Naval
