China reports no ‘unusual or novel pathogens’ after WHO queries the recent respiratory outbreaks
China has recently been on the news for another possible outbreak. This time the country is under scrutiny as many reports have been coming forward of child pneumonia cases. The World Health Organization (WHO) on the other hand has already started on its query of what is happening in the country to which China reported no “unusual or novel pathogens”. WHO said that Beijing has been credited for “a rise in flu-like illnesses to the lifting of Covid curbs” and the organization has requested more data on this.
Even after China reported that there is nothing unusual about the recent surge of cold in children, WHO still urged the residents to take useful precautions like wearing masks in public places and getting vaccinated. Although China denied anything serious or usual about this, the local media had a different take on the initial days as it reported hospitals being overwhelmed with such cases and patients.
In a recent statement given to the media on Wednesday, WHO said that it requested more data and information on reports, both from the media and ProMed; a global outbreak of a surveillance system – of “clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in northern China”. Immediately after WHO’s request, the state-run Xinhua news agency published an article as an answer. In the article, officials of China’s National Health Commission (NHC) were quoted saying they are already paying close attention to all the diagnoses and being observant of the care of children with respiratory illnesses. Later on Thursday, WHO again published an official statement that stated that China has not yet detected any “unusual or novel pathogens”. The statement also mentioned that the increase in respiratory illnesses that are spreading in the north of the country was due to “multiple known pathogens”.
Pneumonia is a general medical term that is used to describe an infection, an inflammation of the lungs. Different viruses, bacteria, or even fungi can cause this in anyone. Since this year’s October, the northern part of the country has reported an “increase in influenza-like illness” compared to the records of the same period over the past three years. In the statement, WHO mentioned, “Some of these increases are earlier in the season than historically experienced, but not unexpected given the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions, as similarly experienced in other countries.” The statement continued by saying that the organization is “closely monitoring the situation and is in close contact with national authorities in China”.
Along with China’s name being mentioned, reports of a surge of infection in people can cause jittery and unsettling as it brings back the memories of the COVID-19 pandemic and it has not been that long. So it is a good practice that WHO is asking for clarity beforehand this time. It is also not unusual for the organization to ask countries for more information about a cluster of illnesses. However, what seems unusual to the general public is that the organization is asking for information publicly as previously it was being done through public channels.
