From 2023 to the present, pneumonia has been very common. More and more people with a prolonged cough, whether or not they have a fever, are being found to have pneumonia on x-ray.
The increase is not limited to infants and young children whose immune systems have not yet fully developed, people with weakened immune systems, and the elderly, but all generations. (It is believed that this is due to immune memory against infections that has been reduced because it was not activated during the pandemic period.)
It is estimated that viral and bacterial infections account for 36% and 64% of pneumonia cases, respectively, but often begin with a viral infection and are joined by bacterial infections, and often both viral and bacterial infections are detected.
When pneumonia is found, it is often bacterial in origin and requires treatment with appropriate antibiotics. (However, due to a severe shortage of antibiotics, appropriate treatment is not available at this time.)
The most common causative virus during the past year was actually the most common cold virus, rhinovirus. It is likely that rhinovirus is still the cause of many pneumonia cases. Exacerbations of bronchial asthma, sinusitis, and otitis media, which are assumed to be caused by this virus, continue to be extremely common.
Rhinovirus is a so-called “common cold” with no effective vaccine because of the large number of mutated strains, and it is a life-long recurring illness. Since no test kits exist, clinical diagnosis can only be inferred from clinical symptoms based on published epidemiological information.
For prevention, hand washing and masks are effective.
National Institute of Infectious Diseases Japan, lower respiratory tract infection-derived virus2023~2024
CDC Rhinoviruses