China pneumonia outbreak: China says no unusual pathogens found, Indian doctors advise to be watchful

The rise in respiratory illnesses comes as China braces for its first full winter season since it had lifted strict COVID-19 restrictions in December.

Chinese health authorities have not detected any unusual or novel pathogens, and provided the requested data on the sudden spike in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on November 23.

The WHO had sought more information from China after groups, including the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED), reported clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in northern China.

The data suggests the increase is linked to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, along with the circulation of known pathogens like mycoplasma pneumoniae, a common bacterial infection that typically affects younger children and which has circulated since May in the region.

Dr Ashok K Rajput, Senior Consultant, Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine at the CK Birla Hospital (R), Delhi, told Moneycontrol that India should be "watchful for a sudden increase in such cases in our country too". "We have burnt our fingers earlier with COVID-19 and learned a lot about the fast spread of respiratory illnesses," he said.

Talking about hospitals' preparedness to tackle such cases, he said, "We are aware that our hospitals are aware now with past experience but the number of beds is less. We are well aware of equipment, oxygen, and drugs but the challenge remains for a large epidemic."

He further said that China is overpopulated like India and both countries can be epicentres for such epidemics. "But China hides many things including biological labs handling and experimenting with viruses. China’s vaccination was poor. We don’t know the exact pathogen in the recent increase in cases. There may be a seasonal increase in such infections which is causing scare because of recent the COVID epidemic," Rajput further added.

Also Read | China hospitals overwhelmed with 'mysterious pneumonia' in children, WHO seeks report

The epicentres of this outbreak are the Beijing and Liaoning provinces. The severity of the situation has led to the suspension of classes in some schools, as both students and teachers have taken ill. Last week, Chinese authorities from the National Health Commission reported an increase in the incidences of respiratory diseases in the country, the WHO noted in a statement. No deaths have been reported so far.

As per a report by Times of India, Dr. Tushar Tayal, Consultant, Internal Medicine at CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram said that it is too early to say whether the current infection can become a pandemic or not. "WHO is already involved and is looking into the matter. What is most important is to keep following personal protection in the form of 3 ply masks, frequent hand sanitization, and social distancing," he added.

The rise in respiratory illnesses comes as China braces for its first full winter season since it lifted the stringent COVID-19 restrictions in December.

Many other countries saw similar increases in respiratory diseases after easing pandemic measures.

Dr. Neha Rastogi Panda, Consultant - Infectious Diseases, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram gave more information about the symptoms of this respiratory illness. "Patients affected by the mysterious pneumonia commonly exhibit severe respiratory distress, requiring immediate medical attention. Preliminary reports suggest that the illness may be highly contagious, contributing to its rapid spread within affected communities," she added.

Dr Jeenam Shah, Consultant, Respiratory Medicine, Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre, Mumbai told Moneycontrol that there is severe shortage of beds. "So approximately there was some data which says that we need 2.4 million more beds to cater to the Indian population for the general diseases. But now we know that India is rapidly increasing in population. So we are definitely going to have a severe shortage of bed if such kind of pandemic again comes across," he said.

Speaking more specifically about ICU beds, Shah said, "We need significant amount of ICU beds, especially because such kind of pneumonia cases are very severe. We need to take care of them. They require hospitalization, ICU care, oxygenation, ventilation. So definitely we are under staffed and we need more ICU beds."

Shah advises that we should keep our guard up. "We need to definitely keep an eye on this. We need to maintain precaution from today, even if we are not in the epicenter of that particular infection, we need to have our guard up. We should start using routine hygienic measures, wearing a mask, sanitise our hands, maintain social distancing.

With inputs from agencies