'Walking pneumonia': Respiratory virus spike impacted by drugs shortage

Mycoplasma, commonly known as '"walking pneumonia", usually results in a mild infection although some illnesses could be severe enough to require antibiotics.

Children aged three to seven are the most prone to the respiratory virus and it could be spread by coughing and sneezing.

A spike in the respiratory virus across NSW has been compounded by a shortage of medication to treat it.

Azithromycin and clarithromycin are the antibiotics used to treat mycoplasma pneumonia in children.

A Therapeutic Goods Association spokesperson said it was "aware of current shortages of azithromycin and clarithromycin used in liquid preparations, caused by an unexpected increase in demand and manufacturing issues respectively".

NSW Health said there had been an "unseasonably high presentations" to emergency departments in NSW of children and young adults with pneumonia.

The spokesperson said there has been evidence "from a number of different sources that increases in pneumonia were likely contributed to by infection with mycoplasma pneumonia".

NSW Health does not classify "walking pneumonia" or mycoplasma as an individual virus.

Australian Medical Association's Dr Anju Aggarwal said anecdotally there had been a four-fold increase of "walking pneumonia" from before the COVID-19 pandemic with young people aged 5 to 16 the most affected.

She described the increase as "very concerning" particularly given the shortage of medication to treat the respiratory virus.

GP Jennifer Smith from Temora in the north-east of the NSW Riverina region said there had been an increase of the illness observed in her practice.

"It has been complex in that the increase in cases has overlapped with flu season as well as the virus RSV," she said.

As well as Mycoplasma, COVID-19 was escalating quickly.

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Infectious disease physician and University of Queensland clinical microbiologist Dr Paul Griffin said healthcare systems were dealing with multiple infection types.

"If we have unusually high season of even an individual one of these pathogens, let alone a combination of them, it does put a big strain on the healthcare system," he said.

"Each and every winter, our healthcare systems, which essentially operate at capacity at baseline, are stretched."