New Delhi: Amid rising cases of pneumonia in China, Indian doctors have called for increased surveillance as well as hygiene measures should such a situation arise in the country.
A recent post on ProMed Mail, the online reporting system of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, reported that China is seeing a large outbreak of pneumonia in children with no known cause. It said the outbreak, which is causing symptoms such as high fever and some developing pulmonary nodules, is putting pediatric hospitals in the country under immense pressure.
On Thursday, the Union Health Ministry said it was “closely monitoring reports of the spread of H9N2 cases and clusters of respiratory illness among children” in northern China.
“India is at low risk from the avian influenza case as well as clusters of respiratory disease reported from China,” a ministry statement said.
It added that the country is prepared for any emergency arising from the current influenza situation in China.
However, doctors called for educating the public on preventive measures such as hand hygiene, influenza vaccination while “maintaining restraint”.
“Unlike COVID, which primarily affects adults, the new pneumonia outbreak in China raises concerns about potential vulnerability in children. Given the limited information available, hand hygiene, influenza vaccination, It is necessary to prioritize preventive measures like isolation and using face coverings,” said Sachin Kumar, senior consultant, pulmonology and critical care medicine, Sakra World Hospital.
“Various factors, including viral mutations or environmental conditions, may contribute to the new pneumonia outbreak in China,” said consultant Anjali R Nath. India needs to protect children by increasing surveillance, encouraging vaccination and implementing public health awareness campaigns. “Proactive measures should be taken.” Pulmonologist, Sparsh Hospital.
While the outbreak raised concerns of a new virus or a mutation in an existing respiratory virus, China assured the World Health Organization that they had not detected any unusual or new pathogens.
WHO said China provided data on Thursday indicating an increase in children’s outpatient consultations and hospital admissions due to Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia since May and RSV, adenovirus and influenza virus since October.
Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a common respiratory pathogen and a common cause of pediatric pneumonia, and can be easily treated with antibiotics.
“Chinese authorities have advised that no unusual or new pathogens or unusual clinical presentations have been detected, including in Beijing and Liaoning,” WHO said in a statement.
China said that “there has been a general increase in respiratory diseases caused by several known pathogens. They further said that the increase in respiratory diseases has not caused the number of patients to exceed hospital capacity”.
Some of this increase is earlier in the season than historically experienced, but is not unexpected as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, as has also been experienced in other countries. The UN health body said no changes in the presentation of the disease have been reported by Chinese health officials.
