These days, many people are coming down with flu‑like illnesses — whether it’s influenza, COVID‑19, or another respiratory infection. On top of that, quite a few individuals remain unwell for a long time, experiencing persistent cough and general malaise.

What is remarkable is how often doctors fail to diagnose one of the most common causes of prolonged respiratory symptoms: mycoplasma infection, often referred to as “walking pneumonia.”

Over the years, I have received many phone calls from patients whose symptoms strongly suggested mycoplasma. They often told me they had already taken various antibiotics without improvement. In such cases, I advised them to ask their doctor about doxycycline, which is generally considered one of the most effective treatments for this infection. Many other commonly prescribed antibiotics do not work against mycoplasma, and people usually realize this after several days without any improvement.

Azithromycin can also be effective, but based on my 55 years of experience, doxycycline has consistently been the first and most reliable choice — except, of course, for pregnant women and children who have not yet reached puberty, for whom it is not recommended.

Because I don’t expect anyone to rely solely on my personal experience, I asked an AI system to check whether the information aligns with established medical knowledge.

If you can help communicate this issue to doctors — most of whom should already be aware — you would be doing the public a service. Ideally, this kind of guidance should come from the Ministry of Health, but they do not seem to view it as part of their responsibility.

One more point: ear infections in older adults are usually rare, yet recently I have encountered several patients with genuine ear pain. This may also be characteristic of mycoplasma infection. After this, I will share the AI’s response