Chinese hospitals overwhelmed by childhood pneumonia outbreak: WHO asks Beijing for information on rise in respiratory illnesses

ProMed releases a report on a cluster of “pneumonia of unknown origin” in children concentrated in northern China

• healthy They successfully restored their sense of smell to a group of patients who were persistently infected with the new coronavirus

This is the first winter since 2019 China Pass it without extreme blocking under policy Coronavirus zero. The one-year anniversary is approaching after social protests prompted authorities to decide to lift restrictions. The pandemic is behind us and the Asian giant is turning the page faster than expected.But these days, they are circulating again on social networks Video of overcrowded hospitals Children in the country’s northern regions are particularly affected due to the pneumonia outbreak.

In the capital Beijing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced earlier this month that 3,500 patients with respiratory infections were admitted to children’s hospitals due to the outbreak of pneumonia. Mycoplasma pneumoniaealso known as “walking pneumonia,” is a bacteria that causes lung disease.

This week, when platforms like X’s Chinese brother Weibo began sharing photos and videos of hospital waiting rooms packed with parents holding young children, health officials held a press conference to warn that the country was experiencing Seasonal respiratory illnesses surgesuch as the aforementioned pneumonia, influenza (currently the dominant strain is H3N2) or the rebound in Covid cases.

Several doctors at Shanghai Huashan Hospital told this newspaper that since October, they have noticed a large influx of patients with respiratory diseases due to the epidemic. Cycles of known pathogensIn other years, due to epidemic restrictions, hospitals do not have as much pressure to use masks and confinement care.

ProMed Alert

But late Tuesday, ProMed, a large surveillance system that monitors disease outbreaks around the world, set off the alarm when it issued a notice about the novel coronavirus outbreak. “Undiagnosed pneumonia” in children They are concentrated in northern China, in places like Beijing and Liaoning, which are more than 600 kilometers apart. In December 2019, ProMed published a report raising questions about a strange pneumonia then circulating in the city of Wuhan that would later lead to the Covid-19 pandemic.

An alert from ProMed guided himThe World Health Organization (WHO) will make a formal request to Beijing on Wednesday This will detail all the information about the increase in respiratory illnesses. The World Health Organization pointed out in a statement that it is currently unclear whether these cases are related to the pneumonia epidemic previously reported by Chinese authorities or whether they are separate outbreaks.

“Many countries have experienced outbreaks of respiratory diseases after lifting lockdowns. The disease can be any disease. We need more information on symptoms, epidemiology and proven conditions,” the doctor wrote in X Krutika Kupalli, Who is part of the WHO emergency plan

The global health agency said it had asked Beijing to provide more epidemiological and clinical information, as well as laboratory results of reported infections in minors. It also asked the Asian giant’s health authorities to provide more information on known transmission trends of the pathogen and the current burden on the health care system.