Mycoplasma pneumonia, a contagious respiratory infection, has returned to Taiwan. Though outbreaks tend to happen in cycles, this time around, drug resistance is making treatment harder than ever before.
A five-year old girl who suffers from frequent coughing was recently diagnosed with mycoplasma pneumonia, an infection of the respiratory system. The girl’s condition quickly worsened. She had a continuous fever and pulmonary edema. She recovered in the end, but only after a stay of three weeks in the hospital
Doctors say that mycoplasma pneumonia must be treated quickly, or else it can affect the brain, heart, skin, and nervous system. In serious cases, the disease can even be fatal.
Doctors say that outbreaks of the disease happen once every three to five years. But they say that treating disease is especially difficult this year because of drug resistance. In 70% of cases, the ordinary treatment, the antibiotic Erythromycin, is proving less than effective. Doctors have had to resort to other types of antibiotics instead.
Doctors are calling on people to reduce their chances of infection through hygiene and by getting the flu vaccine when it becomes available on November 15.