An illness known as white lung syndrome is causing global health concerns, with cases popping up in Europe after being reported in the US and China.
The symptoms include fever, cough, fatigue, green mucus, and shortness of breath. Doctors in Denmark have raised the alarm as rates of this type of pneumonia have reached "epidemic" levels, following a worrying increase in children suffering from white lung syndrome in The Netherlands.
The disease, which causes dangerous inflammation in the lungs, seems to be particularly affecting kids at the moment.
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In Ohio, US, nearly 150 cases of pneumonia have been recorded in just the past month. Local health authorities are working closely with children's hospitals and other healthcare providers to try and control the spread of the disease.
However, doctors in Denmark are even more worried. They believe that the spread of white lung syndrome, thought to be a type of mycoplasma pneumonia, can be prevented by simple measures like hand washing, covering mouths when coughing, and staying home when sick.
Hanne-Dorthe Emborg, a top researcher at Statens Serum Institut (SSI), explained: "For the past four years, the number of mycoplasma infections has been extremely low, and it is therefore not unusual that we have an epidemic now.
"We have actually been waiting for it since we closed the country after the Covid pandemic.
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"Precisely because the number has been so low in the past three-and-a-half years, and there is therefore a group of children who have not built up immunity, we can probably also expect a higher incidence this season than what has been seen during previous mycoplasma epidemics before the pandemic."
Meanwhile, China's foreign minister Wang Yi reassured that they've taken steps to prevent the spread of White lung syndrome and other respiratory illnesses post-Covid.
He said: "It (pneumonia) is a very common phenomenon in many countries, and in China that has been put under effective control.
"China's interactions with the international community will not be affected by any factors, and we welcome more visits from friends from across the world."
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