Mycoplasma

[ozchick]

Every man and his dog seems to have this or thinks they have !
Never heard of this in Oz. Is this to do with humidity/air-conditioners ? What's the local info on all this then ? Please don't send this thread to the health forum cos I reckon it might be something on which a few posters could shed some light while the rest of us get informed.

[durain]

my what???????

[skye]

It's a bacterial infection but presents like a cold or if you get a bad dose, like flu, not "a flu" singapore-style which is just a dose of the sniffles, but the kind that lays you out in bed for a week and takes ages to get your energy back or progresses to pneumonia. Sometimes it can be a severe headache without the cough. If you have a mild dose it'll go by itself in a week or so, if not, head to the doc for antibiotics or you might be coughing for months. It's very common here, especially if you have kids in school. We used to get it over and over (you don't develop immunity) but since our youngest left school, we've been mycoplasma-free. Our doc says the humidity and recycled a/c make it worse here but it happens elsewhere - in the US it's often referred to as "walking pneumonia".

[durain]

i did google it and one of the results was pointing it to STD!

[skye]

Think you are mixing up mycoplasma pneumoniae with mycoplasma in other areas, which is of course not allowed in Singapore with our conservative society and all