Pediatric pneumonia cases on the rise

An increase in pediatric pneumonia cases has been reported by the CDC, and that's causing concern for some parents.

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 According to Dr. Frank Esper with Cleveland Clinic,

00:09 children's pneumonia is pretty common this time of year.

00:12 - It's when most of the children are back in school,

00:15 and so instead of being in the summer

00:17 where you're out and playing and separated,

00:20 now you've got 20 plus kids in a room next to each other,

00:24 and there's a lot of opportunities for germs to spread,

00:29 and that's why this is the time of year

00:30 we see a lot of pneumonias and other infections.

00:33 - Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs.

00:36 Symptoms in children can include fast or trouble breathing,

00:40 fever, a cough which may be dry or could produce mucus,

00:44 chills, and fatigue.

00:46 An exam is needed to diagnose pneumonia.

00:49 Depending on the type, it can be treated with antibiotics,

00:52 and most kids recover with no problem.

00:55 But Dr. Esper says the best protection is vaccination.

00:59 - We actually have pneumonia shots

01:01 that protect against a very bad bacterial pneumonia

01:04 called pneumococcus, but there's also influenza.

01:07 Influenza causes pneumonia,

01:08 and you can get your flu shot every year.

01:10 COVID, COVID causes pneumonia.

01:13 Any child over the age of six months

01:15 can get both a flu and a COVID shot.

01:17 - For AccuWeather, I'm Jeff Cornish.

01:19 (coughing)