An outbreak of mycoplasma pneumonia in children was reported in northern China. At the same time, patients do not have a cough or characteristic symptoms of this disease.
Since the beginning of the week, Western media began reporting a wave of undiagnosed pneumonia among children in northern China, including in Beijing. Local health authorities recognized the dire situation for patients and said they could not cope with such an influx, as more than seven thousand children with pneumonia per day per hospital alone.
Official Beijing did not comment on the situation, so the World Health Organization and the International Society for Infectious Diseases expressed concern and sent relevant requests to China.
What is the situation now?
Note that at the beginning of this week, the average number of patients in the internal medicine department of Beijing Children’s Hospital was more than seven thousand per day, exceeding the hospital’s capacity. This was brought to the attention of the online medical community ProMED, which at the end of 2019 asked about an unknown disease that was spreading in Wuhan and then turned into COVID-19.
Taiwanese TV channel FTV News spoke to the patients’ parents and Chinese doctors on condition of anonymity. The doctor noted that children’s hospitals in Beijing and northern Liaoning were overwhelmed with “indeterminate” cases similar to mycoplasma (atopic) pneumonia, believed to be caused by bacterial infections.
And one of the parents said: “many children are treated in the hospital. No cough, no symptoms of pneumonia, but high temperature and inflammation of the respiratory tract.” According to him, parents are asking doctors if the authorities are “hiding the epidemic.”
The previous day, officials in northern China, where the pneumonia outbreak has been recorded, asked the population to bring children with less severe symptoms to clinics in other regions of the country.
At the same time, the country’s National Health Commission suggested that children with mild symptoms should “first visit primary health care facilities or pediatric wards of general hospitals” because large health facilities are overcrowded and have long waiting time.
In addition, the commission said it pays attention to the high incidence of infectious diseases among children and “instructs local authorities to strengthen the coordinated schedule and introduce a multi-level system of diagnosis and treatment.”
At the same time, Western journalists recalled how, after the SARS outbreak in southern China in 2002, Beijing officials ordered doctors to bury patients and some were taken in ambulances while visiting scientists of WHO the country. And nearly two decades later, China withheld critical details about the coronavirus from the UN health agency.
Possible causes of pneumonia
On Wednesday, the WHO said China is seeing a potentially alarming increase in respiratory illnesses and pneumonia clusters among children, and the organization has sent an official request to China.
At the same time, the WHO said it was not yet clear whether the pneumonia was related to the increase in respiratory infections that have been spreading in the country since the beginning of October, when the quarantine related to COVID-19 was lifted.
Other countries have also seen an increase in common colds such as respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, since pandemic restrictions ended, the organization added. But unlike China, other countries have not seen undiagnosed pneumonia.
Western scientists also added that the situation requires careful monitoring, but they do not believe that the rise of SARS in China is a sign of the start of a new global outbreak. So, Dr. believes David Heimann from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine likely has seasonal respiratory infections in China today.
Getty Images/The situation in a hospital in China
Francois Balloux of University College London said the current wave of illnesses in China is likely caused by respiratory diseases such as influenza, RSV or a bacterial infection.
He said China was likely experiencing a significant wave of childhood infections because it was the first cold spell since the lockdowns were lifted, which likely lowered children’s immunity to common infections.
“Unless new evidence emerges, there is no reason to suspect the emergence of a new pathogen,” Ballou said.
China responded
Today, Chinese officials responded to a WHO inquiry and said they had not found any “unusual or new diseases” in the country. Health officials added that the increase in hospitalizations of children is due to bacterial infections, influenza and cold viruses. At the same time, Chinese officials said that the influx of patients has not yet overwhelmed the country’s hospitals.
“Chinese health authorities have not reported any changes in disease manifestations,” WHO said.
The organization also encouraged people in China to take steps to reduce the risk of respiratory infections, including staying up to date on vaccinations, avoiding others, wearing masks when necessary and staying home when there is pain
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.