There has been an unusual surge of respiratory infections with severe illness known as walking pneumonia or white lung pneumonia – spreading high levels among young kids, according to emergency room data across the United States. The infection is caused by the bacteria Mycoplasma pneumoniae in children as small as two years old, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures.

"Since late spring, the number of infections caused by M. pneumoniae has been increasing, especially among young children," the CDC said in a statement.

More than 7 per cent of emergency room visits with pneumonia in the age group of 2-4 years were diagnosed with the bacteria throughout the last month. This has "dropped slightly" from a peak of more than 10 per cent in August, CDC said.

"The increase in 2–4-year-olds is notable because these infections have historically been thought to affect school-age more than younger children," the agency added.

The CDC says figures that come from the National Syndromic Surveillance Programme – which collects numbers from emergency rooms – have echoed an increase reported by testing company BioFire Diagnostics – which says the trends show that numbers are now higher 14 times than last year.

CDC says that the levels of infections are the worst at present across the states of Texas and Iowa. Apart from that, other states have also now started taking steps to prevent the surges from Mycoplasma pneumoniae.

everal have also reported an increase in kids with pneumonia - a lung infection that causes the air sacs to fill with fluid or pus, making it difficult to breathe. Also, the trends of rhinovirus and enterovirus have been reported to have accelerated in recent weeks.

According to experts, the situation is likely to worsen as pollen and mold counts are rising, and the weather is becoming colder – keeping mostly children indoors.

Doctors say walking pneumonia is a milder form of the illness - a lung infection that leads to your airways swelling, the air sacs in your lungs filling with mucus and other fluids, a high fever, and a cough with mucus. If you have walking pneumonia, you may feel well enough to walk around and carry out daily tasks without realizing you have pneumonia.

“Walking pneumonia” is the common term for atypical pneumonia. It usually affects those who are younger in age or have compromised immune systems.

Even though it mostly feels like the common flu, a few distinctive signs and symptoms of walking pneumonia, include:

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