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. 2024 Aug;29(32):2400485.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2024.29.32.2400485.

Persistent elevation in incidence of pneumonia in children in England, 2023/24

Daniel Todkill  1   2 , Theresa Lamagni  1 , Richard Pebody  1 , Mary Ramsay  1 , Daisy Woolham  1 , Alicia Demirjian  1   3 , Antoine Salzmann  1 , Meera Chand  1 , Helen E Hughes  1 , Christopher Bennett  1 , Russell Hope  1 , Conall H Watson  1 , Colin S Brown  1 , Alex J Elliot  1
Affiliations

Persistent elevation in incidence of pneumonia in children in England, 2023/24

Daniel Todkill et al. Euro Surveill. 2024 Aug.

Abstract

Since November 2023, the absolute number of attendances at emergency departments for pneumonia among children aged 5-14 years in England have been above expected levels for the time of year. This increased signal peaked during March 2024 but then persisted into early summer 2024 despite decreases in prevalence of seasonal respiratory pathogens. Record linkage between emergency department and laboratory databases points to this unusual activity being driven largely by Mycoplasma pneumoniae.

Keywords: England; Mycoplasma pneumoniae; bacterial infections; epidemiology; pneumonia; syndromic surveillance.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Daily emergency department attendances for pneumonia in children aged 5–14 years, England, 1 January 2019–28 July 2024 (n = 5,517)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Daily trends in respiratory pathogens associated with emergency department attendances for pneumonia by age, England, 1 Nov 2022–1 May 2024 (n = 2,334)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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