ST CHARLES, Mo. — Urgent care doctors in Missouri have seen a concerning trend in recent pneumonia cases: more children are coming in suffering from the dangerous lung infection.
Dr. Molly Spire with Total Access Urgent Care said families she's seen from around the St. Louis region recently have been worried.
"When the fevers are 103, 104, with rotating Tylenol and ibuprofen, and are having difficulty with it coming down or when your child is having obvious symptoms of shortness of breath and difficulty breathing, it is quite scary," Spire said.
Fall has historically been respiratory virus season, when doctors usually experience increases in cold, flu, strep, and pneumonia cases. However, more children this year are coming in with atypical pneumonia, otherwise known as "walking" pneumonia, which the American Lung Association says is commonly accompanied by a cough, fever, chest pain, and mild chills.
"The children getting back together in the classroom as well as fall hitting, we see an increase in those respiratory infections," Spire said. "We may hear something that sounds like a horn or a honk (through a stethoscope), sometimes we here crackling almost like Rice Krispies."
Treatments vary, but there are medications for pneumonia. Spire said patients may have high fevers and/or congestion for three day or up to a week event with treatment. Sometimes a cough can linger for several weeks after infection.
"Consider putting that mask back on, we know that masks help prevent the spreading of these upper respiratory infections," Spire said.