The WHO says China has shared data indicating there is no new pathogen
The World Health Organization said China had shared data on a recent increase in respiratory illnesses in children, a day after the agency said it was seeking information about the possibility of undiagnosed cases of pneumonia there.
The Chinese data indicated “no detection of unusual or novel pathogens,” one said WHO statement on Thursday. The data, which included laboratory results from infected children, indicated that the increase in cases was due to known viruses and bacteria, such as influenza and mycoplasma pneumoniae, a bacteria that typically causes mild illness.
Hospital admissions of children had increased since May, as had outpatient visits, but hospitals were able to cope with the increase, China told the global health body.
The WHO made the request for information after Chinese news and social media reports pointed to a notable increase in the number of sick children in recent weeks. Parents reported long lines, sometimes eight hours or longer, at children’s hospitals. China’s National Health Commission acknowledged reports of overcrowding.
Some of those reports also caught the attention of members of this week ProMEDa disease-tracking site operated by the International Society for Infectious Diseases that is monitored by health officials for early warnings of possible emerging diseases.
China’s transparency in reporting outbreaks has been the subject of intense global scrutiny after it covered up early cases of both the SARS virus in 2003 and the virus that led to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The WHO early this year reprimanded Chinese officials for withholding data that the agency said could shed light on the origins of the coronavirus.
The WHO made its formal request for data a day after a ProMED member shared a news report from Taiwan about a rise in the number of sick children in Beijing and Liaoning, a northeastern Chinese province. Chinese officials had already publicly acknowledged an increase in respiratory illnesses in children, but the WHO said it was unclear at the time whether that increase was caused by known pathogens.
“A key objective was to determine whether there have been ‘clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia’ in Beijing and Liaoning as reported in media reports,” the WHO statement said.
The WHO said the increased infections in China occurred earlier in the season than historically expected, but “not unexpectedly” given this was the first winter since China lifted strict coronavirus restrictions imposed on the country in 2020. Other countries had made similar leaps in China’s development. other illnesses after lifting their Covid controls.