China A large number of cases of respiratory diseases in hospitals and sick children complaining of pneumonia-like symptoms have been reported, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to step up its investigation.
Earlier, the Beijing Children’s Hospital told state broadcaster CCTV that at least 7,000 patients are being admitted every day, far exceeding the hospital’s capacity.
Last week, more than 13,000 children were brought to the outdoor and emergency departments of the largest children’s hospital in the nearby city of Tianjin. The number of such cases is also high in Liaoning Province, about 690 km from the capital Beijing.
Chinese Ministry health has asked local authorities to increase the number of fever clinics.
“Efforts should be made to increase the number of relevant clinics and treatment areas, extend service hours and ensure the supply of medicines,” National Health Commission spokesperson Mai Feng said on Sunday.
He added: ‘It’s important to do well to prevent and control outbreaks in high-traffic settings such as schools, childcare facilities and nursing homes, and to reduce the number of people going to hospital.’
The growing number of cases prompted the WHO on Wednesday to make a formal request to China to release statistics on respiratory diseases and pneumonia-like symptoms in children.
It is unusual for the World Health Organization to receive more detailed information from a country as such requests are usually made internally. The world agency’s China office said it was a “routine” request.
Health officials in China later said they had found no evidence of any ‘unusual or new disease’. Chinese officials said the rising infections were a combination of previously known viruses linked to the country’s first full cold spell since strict Covid restrictions were lifted in December last year.
Authorities believe that along with the circulation of pathogens such as Mycoplasma pneumoniae Corona Measures such as lifting restrictions may lead to increased cases of such diseases.
The WHO also said on Wednesday that a link between undiagnosed pneumonia and the rise in respiratory infections was not yet clear.
What has happened so far?
According to the WHO, northern China has seen an increase in ‘influenza-like illnesses’ since mid-October compared to the same period in the previous three years.
On November 21, Promed, an international public health watchdog, issued a notification about reports of ‘undiagnosed pneumonia’.
Promed is run by health experts who also raised the alarm in early 2019 about the virus that causes Covid.
Promed quoted an FTV News report as saying: ‘With the pneumonia outbreak in China, children’s hospitals in Beijing, Liaoning and other places are overflowing with sick children and schools and classes are on the verge of being suspended. . It is not clear exactly when the outbreak started as it would be unusual for so many children to be infected so quickly.’
The report notes that several areas in China are at risk of spreading an undiagnosed respiratory disease because Beijing and Liaoning are located about 800 kilometers apart.
The report did not say that any adults exposed to the virus at the schools were infected. Some parents in Shanghai on Friday said they were not too worried about the wave of the disease. Outside the children’s hospital, a person named Emily Wu said, ‘Cold is all over the world. I hope people will not be prejudiced by the epidemic but it should be looked at from a scientific point of view.’
What are the symptoms of this epidemic?
According to Chinese health authorities, the outbreak may be related to Mycoplasma pneumoniae, also known as ‘walking pneumonia’. It is a common bacterial infection that usually affects children that has been circulating since May.
Symptoms of walking pneumonia include a sore throat, fatigue, and a prolonged cough that can last for weeks or months. In severe cases, this pneumonia can eventually worsen.
A Beijing citizen, who identified himself only as Wei, told FTV News that the infected children ‘do not cough and have no symptoms. They only have a high temperature like a fever. Many develop pulmonary nodules in the lungs.
Health data analytics firm Airfinity reported that a hospital in Sichuan province also reported unusual symptoms among patients.
“The fact that only children have been infected with the virus suggests that it may be a pre-existing microbe,” Jin Dongyan, a professor at the University of Hong Kong, told Bloomberg.
‘If this was a new microbe, it should have affected most adults. It seems to be something that adults have become accustomed to.’
However, Mycoplasma has previously caused epidemics in China every two to four years. The latest positive rate in Beijing is 40 percent, nearly 1.3 times the 2019 high.
How far can the disease spread?
Bruce Thomson, head of the University of Melbourne’s School of Health Sciences, told Reuters that very early data suggest that nothing is out of control.
He said: ‘There is nothing at this stage to suggest that this could be a new form of Covid.’
According to him: ‘One thing to note is that we have to be assured that the monitoring process is working, which is very good.’
People wait for relatives to board international flights at Capital International Airport in Beijing on January 8, 2023 (AFP)
WHO says people in China should be vaccinated. Isolate if they feel sick, wear a mask if necessary and seek medical attention as needed.
“Until WHO receives additional information, we recommend that people in China take steps to reduce their risk of respiratory disease,” the global agency said.
What are the scientists saying?
“We need more information, especially diagnostic information,” said Dutch virologist Marion Koopmans, who advises the WHO on Covid. According to him: ‘We need to be careful.’
David Hyman, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: ‘The real challenge is to detect the outbreak and determine its cause.’
He pointed out that there could be a possible background of seasonal infection behind it.
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Another medical expert, Brian McCloskey, who has advised the WHO on the pandemic, said: ‘Based on what I know so far I would not recommend pressing the panic button for this as an epidemic. But I will look forward to seeing the WHO’s response from China and the WHO’s assessment afterwards.’
“We are looking at WHO’s international health regulations system,” he added.
He was referring to the rules under which countries around the world work with the WHO on potential outbreaks.
Virologist Tom Peacock, from Imperial College London, said it was unlikely that increased infections would be monitored because we now have the tools to test for influenza or coronavirus ‘very quickly’.
“I suspect it could be something minor or a combination of things that you might call Covid, flu, RSV (sensory syncytial virus) but hopefully we’ll know more soon,” he said. .’
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2024-09-26 11:18:13
