{"id":83546,"date":"2023-11-24T08:51:21","date_gmt":"2023-11-24T08:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.estaql.com\/china-pneumonia-everything-we-know-about-new-outbreak-of-respiratory-illness-world-news\/"},"modified":"2023-11-24T08:51:21","modified_gmt":"2023-11-24T08:51:21","slug":"china-pneumonia-everything-we-know-about-new-outbreak-of-respiratory-illness-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/china-pneumonia-everything-we-know-about-new-outbreak-of-respiratory-illness-world-news\/","title":{"rendered":"China pneumonia: Everything we know about new outbreak of respiratory illness | World News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<h2>China pneumonia: Everything we know about new outbreak of respiratory illness | World News<\/h2>\n<p>China pneumonia: Everything we know about new outbreak of respiratory illness | World News<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/23\/11\/70x70\/skynews-nurse-hospital_6369295.jpg?20231123102742\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<div data-component-name=\"sdc-article-body\" data-highlight-intro=\"true\">\n<p>China has seen an uptick in respiratory illness and\u00a0clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children.<\/p>\n<p>The World Health Organisation (WHO) has asked China for more detailed information about the <strong>increase in respiratory disease<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Look back to 5 January, 2020, and you&#8217;ll find a statement from the WHO titled &#8220;Pneumonia of unknown cause &#8211; China&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>It is therefore unsurprising that news of another mystery outbreak has set alarm bells ringing &#8211; but a WHO doctor has warned against jumping to conclusions and says getting more information is key.<\/p>\n<p>Here is what we know so far about the illness, what China has said, and what the WHO wants to find out.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do we know about the mystery illness?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Northern China has reported an increase in influenza-like illnesses since mid-October, compared with the same period in the previous three years, according to the WHO.<\/p>\n<p>Clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in northern China have also been reported by groups including the Programme for Monitoring Emerging Diseases.<\/p>\n<p>The WHO said it was unclear if the clusters were associated with an overall increase in respiratory infections &#8211; or separate events.<\/p>\n<p>On 21 November, public disease surveillance system ProMed issued a notification about reports of &#8220;undiagnosed pneumonia&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The alert, based on a report by Taiwanese outlet FTV News, said children&#8217;s hospitals in Beijing and Liaoning, 500 miles apart, were &#8220;overwhelmed with sick children&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Many, many are hospitalised,&#8221; Mr Wei, a Beijing citizen, told FTV News. &#8220;They don&#8217;t cough and have no symptoms. They just have a high temperature (fever) and many develop pulmonary nodules.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In an editor&#8217;s note, ProMed said: &#8220;This report suggests a widespread outbreak of an undiagnosed respiratory illness &#8230; It is not at all clear when this outbreak started as it would be unusual for so many children to be affected so quickly.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The report does not say that any adults were affected, suggesting some exposure at the schools.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What has China said about the outbreaks?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chinese authorities said the rise in respiratory illness was partly due to COVID-19 restrictions being lifted.<\/p>\n<p>In the winters after pandemic measures lifted in the UK, there was a surge in illnesses including flu, RSV and strep A, as people mingled more after winter seasons where illnesses had been suppressed by people staying home and wearing masks.<\/p>\n<p>China dropped its COVID restrictions much later than many other countries, <strong>scrapping testing and isolation rules<\/strong> last December.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities also said the spike was due to known illnesses circulating, including flu, RSV, COVID-19 and mycoplasma pneumonia, a common bacterial infection that typically affects younger children.<\/p>\n<p>The cold weather has also played a part, according to Chinese authorities.<\/p>\n<p>As temperatures plummeted in Beijing, in northern China, the capital &#8220;entered a high incidence season of respiratory infectious diseases&#8221;, Wang Quanyi, deputy director and chief epidemiological expert at the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told state media on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read more from Sky News:<\/strong><br \/><strong>What is RSV? Symptoms, complications and treatment<\/strong><br \/><strong>Should you get the flu jab? Why it&#8217;s not just a &#8216;bad cold&#8217;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>What has the WHO said?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The WHO has made an official request to China for additional epidemiologic and clinical information as well as laboratory results from the reported outbreaks among children.<\/p>\n<p>It has also requested further information about trends in the circulation of known pathogens referenced by Chinese authorities.<\/p>\n<p>The WHO said it was in contact with clinicians and scientists through its existing technical partnerships and networks in China.<\/p>\n<p>Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Dr Krutika Kuppalli, who is part of the WHO&#8217;s emergency programme, said the outbreaks &#8220;really could be anything&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>She warned against jumping to conclusions, saying: &#8220;The point is we need information.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The WHO said that while it was seeking additional information, it recommended people in China follow measures<br \/>to reduce the risk of respiratory illness.<\/p>\n<p>These measures included vaccination, keeping distance from sick people, staying at home when ill, getting tested and<br \/>medical care as needed, wearing masks as appropriate, ensuring good ventilation, and regular hand-washing.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"\u0627\u0644\u0645\u0635\u062f\u0631\" href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/what-we-know-about-the-unexplained-outbreak-of-respiratory-illness-in-china-13014066\">\u0627\u0644\u0645\u0635\u062f\u0631<\/a><br \/>\n<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/lenkaed.com\" title=\"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631\" rel=\"dofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"China pneumonia: Everything we know about new outbreak of respiratory illness | World News\" href=\"\/\">China pneumonia: Everything we know about new outbreak of respiratory illness | World News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>China pneumonia: Everything we know about new outbreak of respiratory illness | World News China pneumonia: Everything we know about new outbreak of respiratory illness | World News China has seen an uptick in respiratory illness and\u00a0clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has asked China for more detailed information about [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7678],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-estaql"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83546\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}