Scientists have raised concern over a mysterious “pneumonia like” illness that has left hospitals in China “overwhelmed with sick children”.
An alert was issued through ProMed – a large surveillance database which monitors disease outbreaks– warning of an epidemic of “undiagnosed pneumonia” in children.
Taiwanese news website FTV News said that children were presenting to hospitals in Beijing and Liaoning – 500 miles northeast – with symptoms including a high fever and inflammation of the lungs, but no cough.
A Beijing citizen told the outlet: “Many, many (children) are hospitalised. They don’t cough and have no symptoms. They just have a high temperature and many develop pulmonary nodules.”
He added: “Now you are not allowed to report to school. If you have any symptoms such as fever, cold, cough and then you are hospitalised, you can ask for leave.”
Local media reported that the lobby of Dalian Children’s Hospital in Liaoning province was also “full of sick children” receiving intravenous drips.
A staff member of the hospital said: “Patients have to wait in line for 2 hours, and we are all in the emergency department and there are no general outpatient clinics.”
The World Health Organisation on Wednesday asked China for more data on the illness, adding that it was not clear if these were associated with an overall increase in respiratory infections previously reported by Chinese authorities or separate events.
The health agency said it had asked for additional epidemiologic and clinical information as well as laboratory results from the reported outbreaks among children, through the International Health Regulations mechanism.
The Covid-19 outbreak was initially flagged up to global scientists in late December 2019 via a ProMed alert in late December, which had similarly warned of a respiratory illness sweeping through the city of Wuhan.
An editor’s note posted by ProMed on Wednesday said that the FTV News report suggested a “widespread outbreak of an undiagnosed respiratory illness”.
It added: “It is not at all clear when this outbreak started, as it would be unusual for so many children to be affected so quickly.
“The report does not say that any adults were affected, suggesting some exposure at the schools.
“ProMed awaits more definitive information about the etiology and scope of this concerning illness in China.”
The outbreak could be linked to a surge in mycoplasma pneumoniae, a pathogen that causes respiratory illness among children. Symptoms include sore throat, fatigue and a slowly worsening cough that can last for weeks or months.
A surge in infections caused by the pathogen, also known as “walking pneumonia”, is thought to have been caused by a lack of immunity due to China’s strict lockdown measures imposed last year.
“It is the first wave of mycoplasma pneumoniae infections since most Covid-19 containment measures were lifted at the beginning of this year,” Zhou Huixia, director of the children’s medical centre at the Seventh Medical Center of the Chinese PLA General Hospital, told state newspaper China Daily.
“The wave has appeared particularly ferocious since the National Day holiday in early October,” she said. “Compared to previous years, we found more patients with mixed infections, drug resistance and lobar pneumonia.”
