In the early morning, Beijing Children's Hospital was still overcrowded with parents and children whose children had pneumonia and came to seek treatment.
Chinese authorities attributed this increase to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and the circulation of known pathogens such as influenza, mycoplasma pneumoniae, respiratory syncytial virus, and SARS-CoV-2.
The resurgence of several respiratory pathogens come as China heads into its first winter after easing stringent Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, and appears to have hit children particularly hard.
Local media have reported a steady rise in infections from a pathogen called mycoplasma among kindergarten and primary school children.
Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, China's top medical center for respiratory diseases, has seen the mycoplasma positivity rate among children rising to 40% - compared to just 6% among adults - the hospital's vice dean Tong Zhaohui said at a briefing in the city last week.
Potentially fueling concerns, the most common antibiotic used to treat mycoplasma infections faces higher drug resistance in China versus elsewhere in the world.
Still, the local branches of China CDC in Beijing and nearby Tianjin said mycoplasma infections have peaked, while other illnesses such as flu and respiratory syncytial virus are on the rise, state media including CCTV have reported.
No comments:
Post a Comment