Ottawa area hospitals seeing spike in walking pneumonia cases [Video]

The number of pneumonia cases is rising across Ottawa and the surrounding area, happening much earlier than usual this year. Health officials say the surge is putting more pressure on local hospitals.

The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) is seeing a significant increase in patients with respiratory illnesses, such as pneumonia among the main reasons.

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“Our emergency department is very busy. It was built for about 150 patients. Yesterday we registered just under 250 patients,” said Tammy DeGiovanni, CHEO’s senior vice-president of clinical services and chief nursing executive. “So very busy time of the year and lots of respiratory illnesses.”

Healthcare providers report that walking pneumonia, a mild form of pneumonia, accounts for many of these visits.

“It’s often referred to as walking pneumonia, which really refers to the sense that, typically these patients aren’t extremely ill, so they’re able to be walking around,” said DeGiovanni. “They’re not in …