Walking Pneumonia Symptoms in Adults

Pneumonia, a condition pertaining to inflammation of the lungs can be conduced by virus, bacteria or other foreign substances. In this condition, the lung tissues and air sacs are filled with mucous, pus and other liquid substances. As a result, oxygen is not able to reach blood and cells of the body. There are different types of pneumonia that affect individuals, however, mostly bacteria are responsible for causing most pneumonia infections.

Generally, people are aware of pneumonia, but very few people are acquainted with the term 'walking pneumonia'. Now what is walking pneumonia? The term walking pneumonia is used to describe a mild version of pneumonia, caused by the organism mycoplasma pneumoniae. Recently, another causative organism chlamydia pneumoniae has been identified that conduces to similar infections. Both Mycoplasma and Chlamydia are observed to affect young adults. Nevertheless, even viruses can cause walking pneumonia.

Before we discuss walking pneumonia symptoms in adults, let's first take a good look at what is walking pneumonia.

What is Walking Pneumonia

Walking pneumonia though conduced by bacteria, is a very mild lung infection and does not demand rest in order to subside. Hence this condition has acquired its riveting name 'Walking pneumonia', as infected healthy individuals can continue walking and performing all routine activities, even after contracting this infection. This means the patient does not require admission for hospital care, and the body manages to counter the infection without bed rest and aggressive treatment. Usually people suffering from common cold become susceptible to attack by these bacteria. But the question cropping up next is that how do we identify walking pneumonia? Walking pneumonia symptoms in adults bear semblance to influenza symptoms, which makes their identification cumbersome. However, observing the signs and symptoms of walking pneumonia in adults may assist in the identification of this mild strain of pneumonia

Symptoms of Walking Pneumonia in Adults

Walking pneumonia symptoms appear about 2 to 3 weeks, after a person has been exposed to the bacterium: mycoplasma pneumoniae. Then the symptoms will develop gradually, over the next two to three days. Respiratory infections lingering for an extended period of time can be signs of walking pneumonia. The initial symptoms of walking pneumonia are cough, running nose like that of a common cold, which then gradually develop into fever, headache and sore throat. Besides these walking pneumonia symptoms in adults, otitis (infection of the middle ear) can also appear as a result of the infection.

The signs and symptoms of walking pneumonia in adults that need to be noted carefully are as follows:

• Nasal stuffiness
• Dry cough (worsens at night)
• Runny nose
• Fever (not very high, will be below 101° F)
• Sore throat
• Headache
• Decreased activity
• Shortness of breath
• Rapid heartbeat
• Bronchitis
• Malaise
• Muscle ache
• Painful eyes
• Weakness
• Loss of appetite in kids
• Abdominal pain
• Diarrhea
• Nausea and vomiting
• Crackles and wheezes in the chest
• Chills or sweating
• Skin rash (including erythema multiforme)
• Chest pain
• Enlarged lymph glands
• Lump in the neck

The kind of symptoms appearing, will depend on the area of the body affected by the bacteria. If the respiratory tract and lung area gets infected, the person will encounter symptoms like breathing difficulty, chest pain, etc. Moreover, if a person's gastrointestinal region is affected, the person may encounter symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. So the symptoms will vary from one person to another, depending on the area affected. The persistence of these symptoms may vary from a few days, to more than a month without treatment. Even in the presence of treatment, a dry hacking cough persists, till damaged lung tissues heal.

Common cold symptoms tend to subside in 7 to10 days, however, walking pneumonia worsens as time passes. Walking pneumonia is spread via contact with droplets from coughs and sneezes of infected individuals. It is believed that prolonged close contact with infected individuals is responsible for its transmission. Infected individuals are contagious for less than 20 days. The semblance of walking pneumonia symptoms in adults to influenza symptoms often leads to non-identification of walking pneumonia for the initial 1 to 3 weeks after its onset.

There is no way to specifically diagnose walking pneumonia and there is no vaccine available to prevent it. Physicians usually prescribe oral antibiotics such as erythromycin, azithromycin, clarithromycin and tetracycline to patients with walking pneumonia, when the condition does not subside on its own. In grave cases, when the walking pneumonia symptoms in adults are severe, intravenous antibiotics are prescribed.