7 cases of ‘walking pneumonia’ detected in India from April to September

"It is clarified these seven cases have no link whatsoever to the recent surge in respiratory infections in children reported from some parts of the world, including China,” the Union health ministry said in a statement.

It added, “…The seven cases have been detected as a part of an ongoing study at AIIMS Delhi in the six month period (April to September 2023) and are no cause for worry. Since January 2023 till date, NO Mycoplasma pneumonia was detected in the 611 samples tested at the Department of Microbiology, AIIMS Delhi as a part of ICMR’s multiple respiratory pathogen surveillance, which included mainly severe acute respiratory illness (SARI, which comprised about 95% of these cases) by real-time PCR.”

According to the health ministry, mycoplasma pneumonia, the common bacterial cause of community-acquired pneumonia, is the reason for nearly 15 to 30 percent of all infections. “Such surge has not been reported from any part of India,” it reiterated.