Cunning in stealth – Kommersant FM

A surge in the incidence of SARS has been recorded in Europe. Denmark, France and the Netherlands have reported outbreaks. We are talking about mycoplasma infection. French doctors note that now more than 7% of tests confirm mycoplasma pneumonia, while six months ago the figure was zero. Mostly children get sick. In France, the number of emergency calls to patients under two years of age has increased by a quarter over the past week.

The insidiousness of mycoplasma pneumonia is that even the patient himself may not notice them, but is already a distributor, explained pulmonologist Vyacheslav Ovechkin: “Mycoplasma pneumonia is typical for close groups. These are military units, dormitories, schools, kindergartens. What is special about this infection? Mycoplasma is an intracellular pathogen. Accordingly, traditional antibiotics do not work on it because they do not have a cell wall.

What are the symptoms of this pneumonia? As a rule, it occurs in a mild form – low-grade fever, weakness, malaise. Often even these symptoms were findings during the study. That is, changes are visible on the x-ray, there is pneumonia, but the person feels relatively well. Such erased forms contribute to the spread of this disease.

That is, the patient believes that he has a slight malaise, but at this time he is a carrier and spreads the infection.”

And pneumonia began to spread from China. WHO has already appealed to the Chinese Ministry of Health with a request to clarify the situation. Beijing confirmed that the increase in incidence began in the spring. All acute respiratory diseases recorded in the country are caused by known pathogens, against which there are effective treatment methods.

There is no vaccine against mycoplasma pneumonia, but vaccinations against other infections can be considered reliable protection, says Marina Berezhnaya, head of the emergency department of the European Medical Center, Candidate of Medical Sciences:

“Mycoplasma pneumonia has always been, is and will be. There are no vaccinations against them, but there are treatment regimens prescribed by the doctor. There is a vaccine against the typical pathogens of pneumonia – pneumococci – it is now included in the national calendar. Older people who have not received such a vaccine can get vaccinated now. There is a very clear indication – age from 65 years.”

In Russia, an outbreak of mycoplasma pneumonia was reported by doctors in St. Petersburg. For example, in the Filatov Children’s Clinical Hospital, such an infection was detected in every third patient, the Doctor Peter publication wrote.

According to Elena Dondurei, the chief freelance pediatric infectious disease specialist at the St. Petersburg Health Committee, such an incidence has not been seen in the city for many years. But we are still not talking about abnormal indicators, noted Valentin Kovalev, a pediatrician and infectious disease specialist at the Lakhta Medical Center in St. Petersburg:

“There really is an increase, there are a lot of patients, but this is also due to the season and the fact that we have stopped wearing masks, washing our hands thoroughly and isolating ourselves. During the pandemic, all this curbed the spread of other infections.

There was not the same amount of whooping cough or the same mycoplasma infection. It cannot be said that there is a direct outbreak in St. Petersburg – there is an increase in incidence, as is the case throughout the country, but there is a question of detection. In principle, standard therapy for pneumonia according to clinical recommendations covers, in particular, this range of pathogens. It is stated that in children over five years of age and adults, mycoplasma is one of the most common causative agents of community-acquired pneumonia.”

European experts who conduct mycoplasma surveillance in 24 countries said the incidence, which had fallen to less than 1% during the coronavirus pandemic, has begun to rise. According to Russian officials from Rospotrebnadzor, the incidence of mycoplasma pneumonia is cyclical, with outbreaks occurring every three to seven years.

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Svetlana Belova