What Is Walking Pneumonia?
Walking pneumonia (a nonmedical phrase) is typically a milder form of pneumonia, a lung infection causing swelling and fluid or pus in your lungs. It is most often caused by bacteria and viruses. You may not even realize that you have pneumonia and feel well enough to continue with your normal activities. It usually does not require hospitalization.
What Is Mycoplasma pneumoniae?
The bacterium most associated with walking pneumonia is Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Most infections caused by M. pneumoniae are mild and feel like a chest cold. When infection progresses to pneumonia, it is typically less severe and called walking pneumonia. Though M. pneumoniae is the most common bacterial cause of children needing hospital care due to pneumonia. This type of pneumonia is atypical because its symptoms are different from those caused by other common bacteria, such as Streptococcus pneumoniae which is generally more severe.
How Is It Spread?
M. pneumoniae is contagious and spreads through coughing and sneezing. When someone coughs or sneezes, they create small respiratory droplets that contain the bacteria. You can get infected if you breathe in those respiratory droplets. The best ways to help prevent spread include:
- Staying home if you feel sick
- Washing your hands often
- Covering coughs and sneezes with a tissue or the inside of your elbow
There is no vaccine to prevent M. pneumoniae and you can get it more than once.
What Factors Can Increase Risk for Infection?
- Age. While anyone can get sick from M. pneumoniae, it is most common in young adults (under 40) and school-aged children.
- Contact with an infected person. If you spend a lot of time in close contact with someone sick from M. pneumoniae, you are at increased risk for developing pneumonia. Short contact periods don’t typically result in pneumonia.
- Living or working in crowded settings. Outbreaks are more likely to occur in places that have a lot of people in them like schools, long-term care facilities or hospitals.
- Health conditions. If you are recovering from a respiratory illness, have chronic lung disease or a weakened immune system, you are at increased risk for severe infection from M. pneumoniae.
How Is It Treated?
Because of the mild nature of this infection, most people recover on their own without medication. You can talk to a healthcare provider about over-the-counter medications to help manage symptoms like fever. Sometimes an antibiotic is prescribed to treat people with pneumonia caused by M. pneumoniae.
Recovery can take a long time. It takes weeks and even months to fully recover with the cough sticking around the longest.
Page last updated: May 5, 2025
