Cough, fever and runny nose: abnormal increase in respiratory morbidity

In the midst of summer, a time when intestinal diseases such as diarrhea and vomiting are usually more prominent, pediatricians across the country actually report an increase in respiratory morbidity. In the last two weeks, they see more children coming to the clinics due to coughs, runny noses, sore throats and fevers, along with an increase in the number of patients with pneumonia. According to them, along with viruses such as rhinovirus and parainfluenza, corona patients are also diagnosed.

“There is an increase in respiratory morbidity in general,” says Dr. Dania Takagi, a senior physician specializing in general pediatrics in the Sharon Shomron district. “We see a lot of viral respiratory diseases, including a small percentage of corona patients, after a period when we hardly saw them. At the same time we are diagnosing dozens of cases of pneumonia caused by the mycoplasma bacteria. In my estimation, about a third of the patients who come to us come due to a respiratory disease.”

According to her, most respiratory diseases in children are viral and do not require antibiotic treatment, but sometimes bacterial pneumonia also develops. “Over 80% of the diseases are viral, but there are also cases where bacterial pneumonia develops. Often the parents say that the child actually starts to feel better, the fever goes down for almost a day, then around the fourth to sixth day of the illness it rises again, the cough gets worse and the child looks sicker. This is a typical pattern for bacterial pneumonia that requires a doctor’s examination and sometimes antibiotic treatment.”

Dr. Takagi adds that in recent years the mycoplasma bacteria, which used to be considered common mainly among older children, is also appearing at young ages. “It’s a pneumonia called ‘walking pneumonia.’ The fever is usually not very high, but the cough may last two or three weeks, so it is not always easy to distinguish it from a prolonged viral illness.”

Cough, runny nose and sore throat

Dr. Bassel Abu-Jafar, a specialist in general pediatrics in the Southern District, also says that in the last two weeks he has seen a clear increase in the number of children who come to the clinic due to respiratory diseases. These are not just toddlers – we see both kindergarten and school children. We are simply not used to seeing so many respiratory diseases at this time of the year.”

According to him, the children are the ones who drive the chain of infection. “They get infected in summer settings, at camps, in gardens and also in crowded places like shopping malls, and then infect all the family members. We see quite a few whole families who get sick. The viruses are transmitted by contact, coughing and sneezing, so it is enough for one child to come home sick for the whole house to be infected.”

He adds that “in the summer we usually expect to see more diseases of the digestive system and less respiratory diseases”, adds Dr. Abu-Jafar. “Therefore the fact that we now see so many children with fever, cough and runny nose is unusual relative to the season.”