WHO wants more information on China's pneumonia outbreak; US CDC reacts
People and children leave a children's hospital in Chinese capital Beijing on Nov. 27, 2023
The World Health Organization (WHO) is closely monitoring the surge in respiratory infections among children in China, Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of the WHO's Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention said.
Kerkhove reasoned that the surge is being attributed to the antibiotic resistance to certain common infections such as influenza, mycoplasma pneumonia, adenovirus, and other seasonal pathogens.
Also read |China: Another pneumonia 'epidemic' alarms WHO nearly four years since Covid was first detected
"We are following up with our clinical networks and working with clinicians in China to better understand resistance to antibiotics, which is a problem across the world but is a particular problem in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia region," Van Kerkhove added.
Experts attribute the increase in infections among children to China's rigorous anti-Covid measures, which were lifted last December after nearly three years.
US CDC reacts
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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Mandy Cohen in a statement to US House lawmakers said that the rise in respiratory infections is not alarming.
The US CDC has said that known pathogens such as the flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and mycoplasma are responsible for the kind of outbreak being reported from China.
What does Science suggest?
According to the US CDC, China's Covid lockdowns disrupted the usual circulation of respiratory viruses, leaving children vulnerable without adequate immunity defences.
A peer-reviewed study from 2022 found rates of M. pneumoniae drug resistance in China have remained high since 2000—around 80 per cent, Newsweek reported.
While the US CDC, as well as the World Health Organization, has expressed a degree of confidence towards Chinese assessment, some US House members have urged caution, given Beijing's record of denial of information related to the Covid pandemic.
Also watch |Undiagnosed Pneumonia outbreak in China, reports eerily similar to 2019 Covid outbreak | WION
The WHO officially requested more epidemiological, clinical, and lab data on the infections in northern China last week. The global watchdog noted that the infections were occurring at a higher rate than in the same period during the last three years.
(With inputs from agencies)