2023-11-23 10:28:31
by Health Editorial Staff
Clogged pediatric departments. The disease would be caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae. The WHO has made an official request to China for detailed information
A new health alarm from China. In several cities of the Asian giant, a mysterious pneumonia is reported which is affecting children. The first warning came from ProMed, a publicly accessible surveillance system that monitors epidemics of human and animal diseases around the world, which issued a notification talking about undiagnosed pneumonia in children, with high fever and traces in the lungs, but without cough.
At the end of 2019, it was ProMed itself that raised the first alarm about an unknown respiratory virus, later renamed Sars-CoV-2.
The Asian media speak above all of Beijing and Liaoning as the metropolises most affected by this pneumonia epidemic which has high fever and lung nodules as symptoms.
Hospitals would be clogged with cases and there would be many classes in schools decimated by hospitalized children. Eric Feigl-Ding, a well-known epidemiologist who followed the pandemic on X, raised the alarm again with several posts and videos describing the situation.
A first hypothesis – according to the epidemiologist – is that these cases are attributable to Mycoplasma pneumoniae, a microorganism responsible for pathologies that mainly affect the respiratory system, but not only. Some experts have speculated that this situation could be a consequence of the lifting of post-pandemic restrictions in the People’s Republic. In fact, the same thing happened in Europe and the USA last winter, with an epidemic of cases of respiratory syncytial virus in children. This is the first wave of infections from Mycoplasma pneumoniae (what is Mycolplasma pneumonia) since most anti-Covid containment measures were lifted earlier this year, explained Zhou Huixia, director of the Children’s Medical Center of the Seventh Medical Center of the Chinese Pla General Hospital, in an interview with China Daily. The wave appeared particularly aggressive after the National Day holiday at the beginning of October – he added – Compared to previous years we found more patients with mixed infections, drug resistance and lobar pneumonia.
The World Health Organization has urged the Chinese population to follow measures to reduce the risk of respiratory diseases, given the spike in cases reported among children in the north of the country. The WHO has made an official request to China for detailed information on an increase in respiratory diseases and cases of pneumonia among children, the organization writes in a statement on social media. WHO has requested additional information on recent trends in the circulation of known pathogens, including influenza, Sars-Cov-2 (the Covid-19 virus), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the most frequent cause of pathology of the lower airways in infants, and mycoplasma pneumoniae, as well as on the degree of overcrowding in the healthcare system.
The preventive measures requested are vaccinations, distance from sick people and staying at home. The World Health Organization said it was concerned about the increase in respiratory diseases in China and asked the population to take protective measures, in a press release published on Twitter. WHO has sent an official request to China for detailed information on the increase in respiratory diseases and pneumonia outbreaks reported in children, the statement said, recommending taking measures to reduce the risk of respiratory diseases.
Meanwhile, officials from China’s National Health Commission, in an interview with state news agency Xinhua, published after a request from the World Health Organization, said: We have continued to pay attention to the diagnosis and treatment of children in a period of high incidence of infectious diseases. The Chinese health authority explained that it had given indications at a local level, alerting primary care centers to improve the capacity for diagnosis and treatment and the adequate management of serious cases.
Article being updated…
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November 23, 2023 (modified November 23, 2023 | 11:04)
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