Since October, WHO has been monitoring the respiratory health of children in northern China. During an emergency meeting with Chinese health authorities last Thursday, WHO was informed that the disease affecting children was caused by a “known pathogen.” Based on reports, pathogens such as influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and Mycoplasma pneumonia, a bacterium that causes pneumonia, have been circulating in China for several weeks.
In the weeks leading up to the WHO’s request to Chinese authorities, images of crowded waiting rooms in Beijing hospitals and worried parents lingering for hours or even days to see doctors were revealed. Stories about people waiting in line went viral on social media. A report released by China’s state-run CCTV in early November warned that the outbreak of mycoplasma pneumonia was growing. On November 13, China’s National Health Commission held a press conference saying that the “incidence of respiratory diseases primarily affecting children” was increasing nationwide, according to a report by WHO.
Chinese authorities attribute this increase to the lifting of coronavirus restrictions and the onset of the cold season. On Sunday, they called for more fever clinics to be set up across the country to deal with the rising number of patients seeking treatment. Outpatient clinics have been established in hospital emergency rooms to test for infectious diseases, preventing the potential spread of nosocomial infections.
The emergence of respiratory illnesses hasn’t caught officials off guard. With the rise in cases of the common cold and flu, people are closely monitoring the situation in China and other parts of the world. However, the current situation comes after China and WHO were criticized for transparency issues in providing health data at the beginning of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which began in the central Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019.
Dongyang Jing, a professor of precision medicine at the University of Hong Kong, said bad news from Chinese health authorities is contributing to the current panic and confusion among Chinese parents of sick children. Public health officials said at a November 13 press conference explaining to the Chinese public and the outside world the fluctuating data and the relatively mild prognosis of the colds and flu in question.
This has caused panic among the general public. “This situation has left many parents confused and worried,” he explained. Complaints from people and doctors about hospital congestion at the local level are partly due to problems in China’s health care system.
A child with a mild flu case may have to wait for hours or even days at the hospital to see a doctor. The press conference held recently has caused a significant sense of unease and worry among the public. People are finding it difficult to make sense of the situation and are increasingly concerned about the potential consequences. Urgent steps need to be taken to address this lack of transparency and provide clear and accurate information to the public. This will help to restore their confidence and ensure that everyone is better equipped to deal with the situation.
Most patients were asymptomatic or had “very mild” symptoms that did not require hospitalisation. Only 3-10% of people infected with mycoplasma will develop pneumonia. In some cases, pneumonia is mild and has a good prognosis. The number of respiratory illnesses among young people in China is now lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Maria van Kerkhove, acting director of the World Health Organization’s Epidemic, Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention Division.
Kerkhove also confirmed that China’s hospitals are not overwhelmed and, unlike during the pandemic, most of the visits are for outpatient treatment and fever clinics rather than intensive care units. Professor Jing also corroborated this claim, saying that cold and flu data in China is currently lower than in 2017 and 2018. Furthermore, he said that this suggests the possibility of infection regardless of the type of virus, such as influenza, Mycoplasma pneumonia, or RSV.
China has a surveillance system to track influenza and respiratory infections. Influenza cases occur in northern China. He added that the difference in the number of infections between northern and southern China will be even larger. Data shows that the number of cold and influenza infections in China is currently increasing from normal levels.
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