What is behind the pneumonia that is causing Chinese children, in a continuous flow that does not seem to be easing, to fill the country’s hospitals? Mycoplasma pneumoniae: this seems to be the pathogen capable, as it is doing, of triggering serious respiratory problems in children. We are talking about a microorganism halfway between a virus and a bacterium, which gives rise to effects that are more severe than common pneumonia. Heavy enough to apparently neutralize even some antibiotics.
What is happening in China
At the moment, Chinese hospitals are filling up with cases of a worrying pneumonia. Data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the flu positivity rate rose steadily in October, even as Covid rates continue to fall after a small spike over the summer.
Chaoyang Hospital of Beijing, China’s main medical center for respiratory diseases, “recorded a growth in the rate of mycoplasma positivity among children equal to 40%, compared to 6% among adults”, explained the vice president of the hospital Tong Zhaohui during a briefing held in the city in recent days. Warning: “Mycoplasma tends to cause large epidemics every three to seven years.”
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Masks are back on public transport
This state of affairs has contributed to growing concern. The National Health Commission, China’s top health authority that also oversees hospitals across the country, is moving to boost the capacity of local clinics to treat infections and identify critical illnesses in a bid to ease pressure on some hospitals. high level, the state news agency reported Xinhua.
Meanwhile, more and more people are returning to using masks on Beijing subway trains, while teachers have urged parents not to send their children to school if they show symptoms.
Should Italy worry?
It’s Italy? Should you be worried about this situation? For now, virologists are watching: they receive information and analyze it, even if it is not difficult to fully understand what is happening by the Chinese authorities. Among the Italian experts with their guard up there is Fabrizio Pregliascovirologist, director of the Galeazzi Hospital in Milan. He explains: “Looking at the Covid pandemic, China reopened later than other countries. Therefore, a bit like what happened to us last year, we saw a higher share of respiratory infections in children. What comes reported, but we have no detailed information, it corresponds to particular pneumonias that suggest the Mycoplasma pneumoniaea particular bacterium that can cause pneumonia of this type”.
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The bacterium that looks like a virus
“A particular pathogen due to its replicative characteristics”, is how Pregliasco defines it. Because, he clarifies, “it is halfway between a virus and a bacterium, it has heavier effects with radiological peculiarities and infiltrations”. How is it treated? “With antibiotics to be administered for at least a week – replies the virologist -. This microorganism particularly affects children because they have yet to form their own immune system, and fragile patients, because they are the weakest”. The result is a viral pneumonia that is not easy to eradicate.
But a doubt remains: “That the Chinese authorities were not so careful and timely in telling us things even at the beginning of the Covid story – underlines Pregliasco -. This is proven by the analyzes of the blood samples and the investigations carried out in the sewers”. “These pneumonias therefore leave us perplexed – he concludes -. We need moral suasion at an international level. The WHO has no inspection powers. To date, I believe there is no danger for citizens, but the institutions must keep the surveillance mechanism oiled” .
Resistant to azithromycin
Then there is a disturbing detail. It is the fact that the most common antibiotic used to treat mycoplasma infections has greater permeability in China than in the rest of the world. “Up to 60%-70% of cases in adults and up to 80% in children do not respond to the drug, azithromycin, an antibiotic used to treat Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia, and to others of the same class of antibiotics,” he revealed Yin Yudong, infectious diseases doctor in Chaoyang. Meanwhile, the wave of respiratory diseases in China has prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to ask for clarification. And the answer came back: “It’s due to influenza and other known pathogens, not a new virus.”
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WHO asks for clarification, China’s response
In particular, the National Health Commission reported that the recent “clusters of respiratory infections are due to an overlap of common viruses such as influenza, rhinovirus, respiratory syncytial virus or Rsv, adenovirus and bacteria”, such as the common Mycoplasma pneumoniae responsible for respiratory tract infections.
The Commission in recent days had urged the Chinese authorities to provide information on the potentially worrying spike in respiratory diseases and pneumonia outbreaks in children. Now, in light of what is happening, he called on local authorities to open more fever clinics and to promote vaccinations among children and the elderly. “Efforts should be made to increase the opening of clinics and treatment areas, to extend service hours and to increase the supply of medicines,” the spokesperson said Mi Fengadvising the use of masks and calling on local authorities to focus on preventing the spread of diseases in crowded places, such as schools and nursing homes.