Pneumonia outbreak in China: WHO worried it could be a new virus

Recently, news reports, social media and disease tracking websites have reported an influx of patients with severe pneumonia in children's hospitals in Beijing and Liaoning Province in China. What kind of pathogen is this and is it worth sounding the alarm, the publication said Axios.

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Earlier this week, the WHO released a statement saying it had sent an official request to China asking for detailed information, including laboratory results, on the rise in reported cases of respiratory illnesses in children.

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WHO said the requested data had been provided and showed an increase in the number of outpatient visits and inpatient hospitalizations among children due to an increase in known pathogens.

These include respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, as well as adenovirus, influenza and Mycoplasma pneumoniae, a bacterium that is a common cause of hospital-acquired pneumonia.

The Chinese government has presented evidence that a cluster of respiratory infections that has sent dozens of children to hospitals in the north of the country is not a “new pathogen.” Authorities attribute this increase to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and the onset of the cold season.

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Before China released the supporting data, outside experts said the situation requires close monitoring and they were not convinced that the rise in cases indicated the start of a new global outbreak.

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