Mysterious outbreak of pneumonia in China alarms WHO

As China experiences its first winter without strict COVID-19 restrictions since the outbreak of the pandemic three years ago, a wave of respiratory illnesses is sweeping across the country, Al Jazeera reports.

The unusual rise in cases prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to ask China for more information about the outbreak and to take enhanced response measures. While the cause of the trend is unclear, some health experts attribute it to the general and temporary impact of the lifting of lockdown restrictions, even as unanswered questions about infections and where they are spreading have led others to draw parallels with the early days of the pandemic.

So, what do we know about the pneumonia outbreak in China so far? As Al Jazeera recalls, on November 13, the National Health Commission of China reported at a press conference about an increase in the number of respiratory diseases. And last Sunday, the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED), a surveillance system that tracks infectious disease outbreaks globally, reported clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in northern China. It is unclear whether this report matches the information from the press conference, Al Jazeera notes.

Infections have spread to Beijing and the northeastern city of Liaoning, which are 800 km apart, according to the ProMED report.

Last Wednesday, WHO asked China to release information about the recent outbreak, including “additional epidemiological and clinical information, as well as laboratory results on these reported clusters in children.”

Although there is no official data on the number of cases, Beijing hospitals have seen a sharp increase in the number of patients, especially in children’s wards. “One large hospital in the city reported that on average about 1,200 patients were admitted to their emergency department each day,” Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu reported from Beijing on Thursday.

Schools in Beijing are also reporting high levels of absenteeism, even sending entire classes home for at least a week if some students are sick, and warning parents to be especially careful, Yu said.

Health officials are also concerned that winter will worsen the spread of infections after China’s National Meteorological Administration warned that the country’s low temperatures would drop further starting Thursday.

Why is pneumonia spreading in China? Representatives of China’s National Health Commission attributed the increase in cases to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions. Health experts also agreed that this could be a similar cause to the “lockdown wave” seen in countries like the UK.

China may be paying off a “debt for immunity” after a long lockdown, “which must have sharply reduced the circulation of respiratory viruses and therefore reduced immunity to endemic viruses,” Francois Belloux, director of the genetics institute at University College London, said in a statement released by on social network X.

Francois Belloux added that based on current information, “there is no reason to suspect the emergence of a new pathogen” and that Mycoplasma pneumoniae, the likely source of most cases and a bacterium that usually affects young children, is “generally quite harmless.”

Chinese authorities have listed mycoplasma as a circulating pathogen along with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. WHO has asked China for more information on the latest trends in the spread of these microorganisms.

While the presence of a new pathogen is possible until more information is available, an outbreak could also be caused by “an existing but recently mutated pathogen with altered characteristics and severity,” notes Leith Abu-Raddad, professor of health policy and research. at Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar.

“Both scenarios would cause global concern as pathogens would sooner or later cross national borders, regardless of preventive measures,” the professor said.

What else can we expect from the outbreak in China? At their press conference, Chinese authorities spoke about the need to strengthen disease surveillance and strengthen the capacity of health systems.

The WHO and medical staff in China have also advised people in the country to strengthen COVID-19 era practices such as thorough hand washing, wearing masks and social distancing.

In Liaoning province, people lined up at traditional Chinese medicine hospitals, while patients at Dalian Children’s Hospital had to wait in line for two hours, according to a ProMED report.

While medical staff are concerned about the sharp rise in infections among people under 18, they are also worried about vulnerable groups such as the elderly and pregnant women, Al Jazeera correspondent Yu said outside Beijing Children’s Hospital as a steady stream of parents walked by hand in hand with her children behind her.

Qatari professor Abu Raddad notes that the incidence in children may indicate that older people have some immunity to a common pathogen, possibly RSV, and is therefore a cause for less concern now that a new vaccine is available against the virus.

Experts agreed that more accurate information about these diseases is needed.

Pneumonia is an inflammation of the air sacs in the lungs due to a bacterial, viral or fungal infection, Al Jazeera reminds.

The infection, which usually affects young children and older adults, can be fatal. According to a 2022 WHO report, mortality from the disease is highest in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Symptoms typically include chest pain, cough, fever and fatigue. Although the disease takes a toll on the lungs and body, it can be treated with antibiotics if it is caused by bacteria. Recovery time usually lasts from a week to a month or more.

China has said an outbreak of mysterious pneumonia sweeping through schools is not the result of a new virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it had seen data from China suggesting a surge in respiratory illnesses was being driven by a rebound in infections following the country’s brutal lockdowns.

Chinese health officials say the outbreak, which is overwhelming some hospitals and pushing schools to the brink of closure, is the result of a combination of infections caused by mycoplasma pneumoniae, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), adenovirus and influenza.

But the WHO is calling for full cooperation from China, which covered up the SARS outbreak in 2003 and failed to warn the world about Covid for months, leaving countries powerless in their response.