China
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How the New Outbreak in China Is Hitting Clinics Elsewhere
The social media images from China are a heart-rending déjà vu with photos of young children connected to intravenous lines receiving fluids from overcrowded hospital waiting rooms.
For a world still reeling from the recent coronavirus pandemic, news from China about a sudden rise in respiratory ailments has prompted understandable concern.
Just 4 years ago, a mysterious respiratory illness started to spread in China (SARS-CoV-2), and a lack of transparency by government officials cost other countries needed time to prepare.
In Beijing, worried parents seeking help for their children are having to wait at least a day, even for emergency care. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 3500 cases of respiratory infection admitted to the Children’s Hospital.
In Liaoning Province, almost 500 miles away from Beijing, there are more reports of sick children overwhelming hospitals.
Chinese media blame the outbreak on mycoplasma pneumonia, sometimes called walking pneumonia, which is a bacterial infection that usually causes upper respiratory tract symptoms but can also prompt more serious lung issues and pneumonia.
In the United States, the weekly percent of emergency department visits for children with diagnosed pneumonia was about 2% as of the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report November 25, 2023, which is average for this time of year, although the agency is already reporting a slight increase above typical levels for children aged 5-17 years.
- Just in time for the election cycle.MondoMorphic
- very wrinkly hands for a young childkingsteven