Is there a mystery to the pneumonia affecting Chinese healthcare?

The Chinese regime reiterated last Tuesday that there is “no reason to worry” about rising growth the occurrence of respiratory infections It’s plaguing the Asian country, and according to Beijing, it’s due to “known pathogens” such as bacteria mycoplasma pneumoniaIt causes milder, atypical pneumonias and causes outbreaks every 4 or 6 years. Preventive measures to contain COVID would eliminate the circulation of this pathogen and reduce the population’s immunity to it.

If the claims of Chinese officials are true, what happened a year ago in Europe with flu and bronchiolitis (caused by respiratory syncytial virus) would also be happening in China. Now they even claim that influenza, adenovirus and respiratory syncytial virus asthma mycoplasma pneumonia The pathogens were most frequently detected among patients at pediatric centers in Beijing, as some hospitals experienced very long queues, with more than 10,000 patients admitted on some days.

Which is mycoplasma pneumonia I had to go there Party The incidence of respiratory infections in winter is something the microbiologist predicts Mike Beeton, Cardiff Metropolitan University (Wales, United Kingdom) this summer. In an article published on the academic portal “Speech” On July 13, this scientist warned that, unlike respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza, and streptococcus A, the Mycoplasma pneumoniae bacteria has not yet reemerged after COVID, but the situation may change this winter. “It’s not entirely clear why it hasn’t come out yet. However, the latest data indicate that there may be an increase in infections this winter,” the microbiologist predicted. Infections increased in Ireland, Denmark and France Mycoplasma pneumonia.

As Beeton explains in his article, mycoplasma pneumoniaA bacterium without a cell wall, discovered in 1944, causes a mild chest infection but can also cause life-threatening conditions such as pneumonia and encephalitis. It spreads through droplets from the nose and throat of infected people, and symptoms in adults are flu-like: sore throat, fatigue, fever and headache. It can also cause a cough that gradually gets worse and can last for weeks or even months. Unlike flu or COVID, whose symptoms begin within a few days of exposure to the pathogen, it can take up to three weeks for symptoms to begin.

due to infections pneumoniae They are more common in school-age children. Your symptoms may vary and may include: sneezing, stuffy or runny nose, wheezing, watery eyes, vomiting and diarrhea. 3% to 10% of children with infection pneumoniae develops atypical pneumonia. And about 5% of these children need hospital treatment.

Mike Beeton points out that this infection requires a special antibiotic, the same one used to control other bacterial infections such as tonsillitis and sinusitis. A document published this year “Spanish Journal of Chemotherapy” It warned that resistance of M. pneumoniae to macrolides, the type of antibiotics it combats, is “increasing alarmingly worldwide” and that in China resistance has exceeded 79% in the past decade. Scientists led by Ana Isabel Alvaro VarelaFrom Clinical Microbiology Service University Hospital of NavarraHe concluded that “more studies are needed to know the incidence of M. pneumoniae infections and the incidence of resistance to macrolides in our environment and in different countries.”

These antibiotic resistances, which can reach up to 90% in the Beijing region, “may contribute to the high hospitalization rate.” mycoplasma pneumonia “Registered in China because they complicate treatment and delay recovery from bacterial pneumonia infections,” notes another article in “The Conversation.” Raul Rivasprofessor of microbiology University of Salamanca. “If infections mycoplasma pneumonia “A reemergence, as in China, could affect the world population that has not been exposed to the bacteria in the past three years and cause an increase in serious rare diseases and extrapulmonary manifestations,” he adds.

Microbiologist María del Mar Tomás, A Coruña University Hospital (CHUAC) shares the following hypothesis: Mike BeetonAccordingly, at unprecedentedly low levels pneumoniaeThe lack of exposure to the bacteria during the peak of the pandemic caused many people to lose immunity to the pathogen. “Probably the stringent measures against Covid-19 have led to an increase in pathologies caused by respiratory viruses, and together with these bacteria pneumoniae The same thing happens: Lack of immunity causes more serious pathologies, says Mar Tomás, who is also a UN spokesperson. Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC) and researcher. This does not mean that we do not monitor to avoid risks in case of mutations or changes in circulating strains, but in principle this seems to be the most likely theory,” the scientist concludes.