China’s spike in respiratory diseases due to ‘immunity gap’

China's health authorities advised medical institutes to implement hierarchical medical diagnosis mechanisms to relieve medical pressure in major hospitals amidst a spike in respiratory diseases and pneumonia across the country, especially among children.

The National Health Commission (NHC) has been monitoring the diagnosis among vulnerable children during the high incidence of infectious diseases, for which, the NHC has guided local medical institutes to allocate resources properly and adopt a hierarchical medical diagnosis mechanism, an official from the NHC said during an interview with the Xinhua News Agency on Thursday.

The official advised that minors who have relatively mild symptoms should see doctors at local clinics or the pediatric department of general hospitals to avoid dense gatherings and long wait times at major hospitals.

Mycoplasma infection, influenza and adenovirus infection are among the common respiratory diseases currently prevalent in China. Recently, the number of patients infected with mycoplasma has been declining, but other respiratory viral infections such as influenza are on the rise, media reported, citing respiratory experts.

In the week of November 13-19, the positive rate of influenza virus detection continued to rise in the southern and northern provinces, with the A (H3N2) subtype predominating, followed by B (Victoria), according to the newest weekly report on Thursday from China's National Influenza Center.

The Liulitun Community Health Center in Beijing's Chaoyang district has brought in two general practitioners and two nurses from a pediatric hospital to increase their admission capacity and better cope with rising cases of mycoplasma infection. Roughly 100 children have been visiting the center every day recently.

Concerning mycoplasma pneumonia, Tong Zhaohui, director of the Beijing Institute of Respiratory Medicine, said that it is a frequently seen respiratory illness which is prevalent in northern China during winter and autumn. Compared with previous years, this year has seen more infections among children under the age of3 years old, but the state of their illness has no obvious signs of worsening, Tong noted.

The global monitoring of mycoplasma infection rate has been at a low level in the past three years. Combined with mycoplasma pneumoniae, it has its own epidemic period, every 3-7 years a cyclical epidemic, which explains the prevalence of mycoplasma pneumonia among children this year, Tong noted.

Respiratory diseases among children in China has caught the attention of the World Health Organization, which on Wednesday requested China provide more detailed information on the increase of respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children.

Editor: CH

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