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Chinese hospitals ‘overwhelmed with sick children' after surge in
respiratory illness
By Jennifer Jett, Dawn Liu, Lena Li and Jiaxin Liu

Nov. 23, 2023

HONG KONG - Hospitals in northern China appear to be "overwhelmed with
sick children" as the country grapples with a surge in respiratory
illnesses and clusters of pneumonia, prompting the World Health
Organization to ask Beijing for more data.

At the Beijing Children's Hospital in the capital, long lines of people
were waiting to register during a visit by NBC News on Thursday. Waiting
rooms were crowded with parents and children, some of them on IV drips.

In a review of China's data, the World Health Organization said that the increase in cases came earlier in the season, "but not unexpected given
the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, as similarly experienced in other countries."

According to WHO, Chinese health authorities did not detect new or unusual pathogens, and that the rise in respiratory illnesses has not resulted in patient loads that exceeded hospital capacities.

There was no indication that the outbreak in China poses any global
threat, and the WHO advised against any travel restrictions "based on the current information available on this event."

Since mid-October, the WHO said, northern China has reported an increase
in respiratory diseases compared with the same period in the previous
three years. The increase coincides with the end of China's National Day holiday week, one of its busiest travel periods.

This is also China's first full flu season since the lifting late last
year of some of the world's most stringent Covid-19 restrictions, which minimized many people's exposure to a wide range of pathogens for three
years.

Countries such as Australia and New Zealand that also had "zero-Covid" restrictions experienced similar surges in respiratory diseases when they
were lifted, and the United States had its own "tripledemic" of
respiratory viruses last year.

Something similar is most likely happening in China, said Jin Dong-yan, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong.

"We don't think there is a major issue there or there is some unknown
disease or something that is hidden," he told NBC News in a phone
interview Thursday. "We have no evidence for that."

"I know four or five families with this situation," Emma Wang, 39, who's 7-year-old daughter caught mycoplasma pneumonia, said. "I am very worried
the virus will keep spreading."

"As a parent, I hope the relevant government department can inform us
about treatment plans and course of the disease, what steps to take and
how long before it can be cured," Wang said.

The WHO said Wednesday that it had asked China to provide detailed
information on an increase in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters
of pneumonia in children.

That followed an alert on Tuesday by ProMED, a publicly available
reporting system for emerging diseases and outbreaks, saying that
hospitals in Beijing and elsewhere in China were "overwhelmed with sick children" amid outbreaks of pneumonia.

Both China and the WHO have been criticized over their transparency in reporting the initial cases of Covid-19, which was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

Chinese health officials said last week that the country was experiencing
a seasonal increase in overlapping respiratory diseases, including
influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and the virus that causes Covid-19, attributing it in part to the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions.

They said there had also been a surge in cases of mycoplasma pneumonia, a common bacterial infection that usually affects young children and is also known as "walking pneumonia" because it rarely requires hospitalization.

Mycoplasma pneumonia tends to spread in settings such as schools,
dormitories and military barracks, with common symptoms including cough,
sore throat, fever and headache. Most people have mild or no symptoms,
while a "small subset" may develop severe pneumonia, Jin said.

"It's not like Covid, it's not like flu, and there are very effective antibiotics," he said.

But China has reported limited data so far, Jin said, making it difficult
to know the full extent of the outbreak of various respiratory illnesses.

"They need to tell the general public whether this is extremely high
everywhere or just in one place," he said.

Compared with pre-pandemic years, China's current levels of respiratory
disease may not be that unusual, Jin said, but more people may be going to hospitals "because they don't know and because they are panicking."

Social media users visiting hospitals in Beijing, where a cold snap is
expected to send temperatures well below zero by Friday, have posted
photos in recent days of long lines and high ticket numbers, with some
saying they were told to come back the next day.

"Most people are rather sensitive to pneumonia and epidemic infections
after Covid," said Zhang Li, a doctor in the city of Dalian, in China's northeastern Liaoning province, whose 14-year-old daughter recently
recovered from mycoplasma pneumonia. "Parents might get anxious if their children don't get better after one or two days."

She said she had initially treated her daughter at home, but took her to
the hospital when her symptoms persisted. "Other parents told me about
their children's pneumonia and their situations when we were chatting, so
I became a little more cautious," Zhang said.

Further pressure is created by the nature of the Chinese health care
system, where it is common for people with mild illnesses to go straight
to a hospital rather than a doctor's office.

"Most people with mycoplasma infection should just stay home," Jin said.
Image: CHINA-WEATHER-SNOW

In an interview Thursday with Xinhua, China's state-run news agency, the National Health Commission similarly advised parents whose children have
mild cases to avoid going to hospitals, citing long wait times and the
risk of cross-infection.

The WHO advised people in China to reduce their risk of respiratory
illness by getting recommended vaccinations, ensuring good ventilation,
wearing masks as needed and washing their hands regularly, among other measures.

"Mycoplasma pneumonia is actually something we already know. It is not a
new virus like Covid," Jin said. "We have established protocols to deal
with this and if we do it carefully, then it would be put under full
control. It's not a big deal."

Jennifer Jett, Lena Li and Jiaxin Liu reported from Hong Kong, and Dawn
Liu from Beijing.

Jennifer Jett

Jennifer Jett is Asia digital editor for NBC News, based in Hong Kong.

Dawn Liu

Dawn Liu is a researcher for NBC News based in Beijing.

Lena Li

Lena Li is an intern on NBC News's Asia Desk.

Jiaxin Liu

Jiaxin Liu is an intern on NBC News's Asia Desk.

Zhenzhen Liu contributed.



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Anyone that isn't confused doesn't really
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~Edward R. Murrow USA WWII Correspondent ==================================================

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