by Andrey Musalov
[REGNUM] The COVID-19 coronavirus infection that raged in 2020 has impressed everyone so much that now any suspicious sneeze in the neighborhood leads to panic attacks.
The increase in mycoplasma pneumonia cases has caused increased nervousness in a large part of the population. Some even claim a new hidden epidemic.
COUGHING PROFUSELY
Mikhail was interviewing with employers when he suddenly started coughing like crazy - uncontrollable, shaking, turning his inside out. Trying to stop coughing, Mikhail tried to hold his breath, to take in more air, but his lungs convulsively shook, as if trying to break out.
"It was like a scary movie about an astronaut with an alien organism inside him. What scared me most was the suddenness and strength of this cough, as well as the faces of the HR staff. One of them rushed to pour me a glass of water. It helped, but not for long," Mikhail recalls.
Hoping that "everything would go away on its own," Mikhail did not go to the doctor. There was no fever or weakness, typical of the flu. There was no loss of taste or smell, as with COVID. Only a cough.
"But at night it got really bad - the cough didn't stop for a minute, and my lungs seemed to be filled with water. At the district clinic they sent me for a chest X-ray," Mikhail added. Only then did the doctor diagnose me with mycoplasma pneumonia. And she added that he was not the first today.
"SOMETIMES IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO HEAR"
Mycoplasma pneumonia is an insidious lung infection that affects the respiratory tract. It is caused by a “subbacterium” without a cell wall. It easily releases a toxin that can cause either a sudden, traumatic cough with blood and high fever, or a barely noticeable malaise.
It is because of this deceptive ease, when the disease is endured “on one’s feet”, that mycoplasma pneumonia is called “walking pneumonia”.
| Sounds scary when said in Latin like that. I get lung inflammation often enough that I start at home with corticosteroid breathing treatments (the same medicine as in asthma inhalers), steam, and the usual lots of fluids, vitamins D, C, and sucking zinc lozenges to bolster the immune system. If that doesn’t work, the doctor generally gives me a cortisone shot and prednisone taper to hit the inflammation response harder. Only if that doesn’t work do we try antibiotics. They used always to start with antibiotics — to prevent meningitis, I believe — but the epidemiologists said that prescribing antibiotics too often was leading to concerning levels of antibiotic resistance among common disease organisms, so treating symptoms became the hot new thing. |
Mycoplasma pneumonia is sometimes impossible to "hear" during auscultation - listening to the lungs. Since the disease is often not very "severe", many patients do not want to take sick leave and continue to go to work or school, spreading the infection," says Ivan Dorofeev, a pulmonologist at one of the Moscow hospitals.
Despite the unobvious symptoms, mycoplasma pneumonia can slowly undermine the body over a long period of time, leading to serious consequences: pulmonary fibrosis, pulmonary embolism, suppuration and respiratory failure. Even a fatal outcome is possible, although rare.
| That’s why it's important to reduce the inflammation response as quickly as possible. |
"In city clinics, chest X-rays (let alone CT scans) are not performed on all sick people. With ARVI, this simply does not make sense. Laboratory tests are prescribed only after pneumonia is detected - based on X-ray results. However, everything is done very quickly, literally in one day," says the pulmonologist.
THERE IS NO EPIDEMIC
The first outbreak of mycoplasma pneumonia in Russia and a number of other countries - China, the USA, Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Germany - was noted a year and a half ago. It was reported on December 6, 2023, by the press service of Rospotrebnadzor, and the Ministry of Health assured that the situation with the incidence was manageable.
In late 2024, there were renewed reports of mycoplasma infections, and by the end of March 2025, the number of cases had increased, causing many to recall the dark times of COVID-19. A number of media outlets even began reporting on a new epidemic.
However, doctors are reassuring - mycoplasma microorganisms cause outbreaks of the disease cyclically, approximately once every 3-7 years. According to the LabQuest laboratory, the frequency of detection of the disease for October-November 2024 reached 19.6%, while for the same period in 2023 the incidence rate was 4.9%.
Representatives of Rospotrebnadzor, in turn, noted that the situation with the spread of mycoplasma infection in Russia is under complete control, as reported by the agency’s official channel.
The fact that there is no talk of an epidemic yet is confirmed by a number of specialists working directly with patients.
"You can't call it an epidemic, but the infection is spreading rapidly now," notes Nina Petrova, a pulmonologist at one of the military hospitals. "Symptoms: high fever that persists for a long time, a hacking cough - sometimes with phlegm, and sometimes without it. And sometimes the cough is so strong that it leads to vomiting. Everyone feels very weak - as if they were unloading wagons with sand.
It is difficult to detect this infection - we do an X-ray, it shows that the lungs are clean. But at the same time, there is a picture of pneumonia and a decent inflammation in the tests. Therefore, the doctor should always compare X-rays, and if there is no pneumonia on them, then it is better to play it safe - send the patient for CT."
APATHY AND LOSS OF STRENGTH
Like other similar diseases, mycoplasma pneumonia primarily affects traditional risk groups: the elderly, children, patients with chronic lung diseases, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and bronchial asthma.
Today, antibiotics are used to combat mycoplasma. Since the causative bacteria has developed resistance to antibiotics due to self-medication by the population, this process can be long.
"Unfortunately, every third or fourth of our patients takes antibiotics on their own. This is a big problem, because antibiotics do not act on viruses. Even if their use is justified, many patients do not follow the dosages, intervals, or duration of administration. And in general, they often drink what they found at home. As a result, microorganisms adapt, and antibiotics stop affecting them as they should," notes doctor Dorofeev.
Recovery from a mycoplasma infection is complicated by the fact that even cured pneumonia often causes post-viral asthenia. Moreover, for a long time, sometimes up to several months, patients feel apathy and loss of strength.
Prevention of mycoplasma pneumonia is familiar to most of us thanks to COVID-19. It includes: washing your hands for at least 20 seconds with warm water and soap, wearing a mask in public places,
| …to keep from infecting others if you are contagious. It won’t keep you from getting sick except inasmuch as it prevents touching the mucus membranes of the T-zone, thus transferring infectious material… |
The good news is that there is no epidemic as such. The bad news is that the disease lasts a long time. Therefore, it is worth being vigilant, otherwise you can fall out of your usual rhythm for a long time.