2023-11-27 00:30:38
¿What are “respiratory diseases” increasing in northern China, especially in children? Almost four years after the first signs of Covid-19, Beijing talks about already known viruses and blames the first cold season since the end of pandemic restrictions.
Despite the uncertainties, the World Health Organization (WHO) and experts They do not believe at the moment that it is a new virus.
On November 13, the Chinese authorities reported an increase in respiratory illnesses, mainly among children. They attribute this to the abandonment of anti-covid restrictions, the arrival of cold weather and the circulation of known pathogens (flu virus, mycoplasma pneumoniae bacteria, RSV that causes bronchiolitis or SARS-CoV-2).
The ProMED surveillance system – which at the end of 2019 gave the first alarm signal about the mysterious pneumonia that ended up being covid-19 – warned on Monday about hospitals “full of sick children” with an unknown respiratory infection. There were also some cases of adults, especially teachers.
An outbreak was recorded mainly in Beijing and cities such as Liaoning (northeast).
What symptoms do these patients have? Fever, lung inflammation without cough, sometimes lung nodules. No deaths were recorded.
In Beijing, at the Pediatric Institute hospital, AFP journalists saw a crowd of parents and children. Some parents mentioned mycoplasma infections, a known cause of pediatric pneumonia, which is treated with antibiotics.
Commuters wearing masks as they wait at an intersection in the central business district during the morning rush hour in Beijing in May. AP Photo
Almost four years after a mysterious “viral pneumonia” appeared in China, The news revives fears of a possible new pandemic.
Messages on social media speak of concern about “a new virus from China” or “a new covid”.
The WHO, which has repeatedly reproached Beijing for its lack of transparency about the pandemic and was herself criticized for her delay in responding to Covid, asked for more information about the increase in respiratory infections in children.
China responded on Thursday that “no new or unusual pathogens were detected”but it did point out “an increase in outpatient consultations and hospitalizations of children due to mycoplasma pneumoniae since May and, since October, RSV, adenovirus and influenza,” according to a WHO statement.
Beijing has a surveillance system for influenza-like diseases and severe acute respiratory infections, such as influenza, RSV, SARS-CoV-2, according to the WHO.
In mid-October, the country began to strengthen surveillance of various respiratory diseases, including, for the first time, mycoplasma pneumoniae.
A man carries a child leaving a crowded waiting room at a children’s hospital in Beijing. AP Photo
For the WHO, “little detailed information is available to fully characterize the overall risk of these cases of respiratory diseases in children”, but with “the arrival of the winter season, an increasing trend in respiratory diseases was expected” .
Several experts mention the repercussions of the first winter since the interruption of anti-covid restrictions in China, and lack of childhood immunization as probable causes of the increase in infections.
Lockdown
“China experienced a much longer and stricter confinement than other countries, so (the increase in respiratory diseases) was to be expected,” says Professor François Balloux, from the University College of London, at the British Science Media Center (SMC). .
“Until there is new evidence, “There is no reason to suspect the emergence of a new pathogen.”Add.
“There is too little information to make a definitive evaluation. From what we know it is not an epidemic caused by a new virus, Otherwise there would be many more infections in adults” says Paul Hunter, from the British University of East Anglia.
“The few infections reported in adults suggest (general) immunity arising from previous exposure,” he points out.
Catherine Bennett of Australia’s Deakin University emphasizes that “young children in school (currently) in China will have spent up to half their lives without regular exposure to common pathogens, i.e. without the same levels of immunity.
The measures to reduce the risk of respiratory disease recommended by the WHO are vaccination, distancing the sick, isolation in case of symptoms, masks and screening tests.
“Based on the information available, “No specific measures are recommended.” for travelers going to China, nor restrictions on travel or trade, adds the WHO.
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