NEW DELHI
Since the mysterious pneumonia outbreak in China, a novel bacterial pneumonia strain, termed “White Lung Syndrome,” has gripped many countries around the world, including China, Denmark, the United States, and the Netherlands. This respiratory illness predominantly afflicts children between the ages of three and eight.
According to doctors, the nickname is given due to how the lung damage shows up on scans and is caused by mycoplasma pneumonia, a bacterial infection that many antibiotics cannot fight.
Although the exact cause of this pneumonia outbreak is still being looked into, doctors believe it might be related to a recently discovered strain of Mycoplasma pneumonia, a common bacteria that causes respiratory infections.
Currently, Beijing has received a spike of 30–40% cases compared to last year, but in the city 150 km away from Beijing, named Tianjin, a children’s hospital is receiving around 30,000-40,000 children every day, said an expert.
Considering the situation, the National Health Commission of China has directed local authorities to a special fever clinic and also go for digital consultation to reduce the load from hospitals because the rise in cases is steep.
Meanwhile the World Health Organisation (WHO) is closely monitoring the surge in respiratory infections among children in China.
Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of the WHO’s Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention, reasoned that the surge is being attributed to the antibiotic resistance to certain common infections such as influenza, mycoplasma pneumonia, adenovirus, and other seasonal pathogens.
According to Dr Piyush Goel, Senior Consultant in Pulmonology, antibiotic resistance is now very common because of the rampant use of antibiotics for very mild infections. So, their microorganisms have become resistant to these antibiotics.
However, experts attribute the increase in infections among children to China’s rigorous anti-covid measures, which were lifted last December after nearly three years.
“The children go to school and meet their peers, which leads to community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), and looking at the steep growth, I can say that it’s not just bacteria but also viral infections. Influenza and flu could be the possible reasons for the surge”’ said Dr Akshay Budhraja, Senior Consultant, Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Aakash Healthcare.
The disease is transmitted via coughing, sneezing, talking, singing, and breathing, carried by minuscule respiratory droplets.
According to Dr Budhraja, all the precautions, like COVID-19, should be taken as it is a droplet infection, and we are uncertain about the reasons.
Precautions like frequent handwashing, social distancing, not going to crowded places, and if you show any symptoms, quarantine for 72 hours should be followed.
However, some experts say, There’s little reason for other countries to worry at this points to another global pandemic.