Teachers and children should be alert for symptoms of pediatric pneumonia.

THE BELMONT County Health Department advises teachers and parents to watch for symptoms of pediatric pneumonia, which is on the rise in local schools.

The department has seen an increase in pediatric pneumonia cases and consulted with WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital, according to director of nursing Gabby Timko. Officials there advised the department to send a public service announcement to Belmont County schools, urging staff members to watch for symptoms in students and to help catch the illness earlier.

There have been multiple hospitalizations from pediatric pneumonia this year, Timko said.

Among Belmont County school districts where cases have been reported are Martins Ferry with two cases, St. Clairsville with six cases, Shadyside and Barnesville both with seven cases and Bridgeport with eight cases. These numbers came to the health department from the schools’ reports from parents.

The department sent out an informational notice to the schools, letting them know there has been an increase in pediatric pneumonia and what kind of symptoms to look for.

Symptoms include chills, fever, headache, slowly worsening of cough, feeling tired and sore throat for older children. Children under 5 may have diarrhea, sneezing, stuffing or runny nose, vomiting and wheezing.

Timko said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has seen a decrease in pneumonia over the last couple of years because people were wearing masks and gloves due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but now that the CDC is more lax on those precautions, pneumonia is spreading more easily.

The CDC is doing a study on a specific type of pneumonia, mycoplasma pneumoniae, that is spreading in schools. It is looking at a potential antibiotic resistance with that specific type of pneumonia.

Timko said that could be another reason for the trend in cases because if doctors are diagnosing children with pneumonia, they’re diagnosing them with a broad spectrum and not necessarily testing for specific types that need a specific antibiotic.

People should visit the doctor if their child is having severe difficulty breathing, if their symptoms aren’t getting any better or if they’re getting worse, or high fever which can cause seizures. These symptoms can lead to hospitalization.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae has an incubation period of one to four weeks, so someone could have it, but it could be up to four weeks from the time they’re exposed before they actually start showing symptoms. That could be another reason it is spreading, Timko said.

Timko said the best method for staying safe and healthy is to wash your hands with soap and water and wear a mask if you’re immunocompromised because pneumonia is spread by droplets. People should also cover their mouths when coughing or sneezing.

Doctors use several types of antibiotics to treat pediatric pneumonia in school-aged children.

Diagnosing it early is important, Timko said, because if someone has symptoms the school can send the student home or the child can stay home and reduce its spread.

She added that an illness like this spreads more quickly than others, so keeping your child at home when they’re sick, especially with a fever, is important.

“Especially with the younger kids, a lot of them don’t really understand to cover their mouths around other kids and stuff like that,” Timko said. “Definitely, if your kid is sick, keep them at home, especially if they have a fever, and call their doctor and see if they need to be seen. They can be treated before it gets too bad.”