E-Paper
Delhi detects 7 cases of ‘walking pneumonia’, Centre says ‘not linked’ to China
All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) hospital in Delhi has detected seven cases of Mycoplasma pneumonia from April to September this year.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi has detected seven cases of Mycoplasma pneumonia or ‘walking pneumonia’ in a span of six months from April to September this year. Reacting to media reports claiming these cases were linked to the recent surge in respiratory infections in China, the Centre on Thursday clarified that the information is “misleading and untrue".
"It is clarified these seven cases have no link whatsoever to the recent surge in respiratory infections in children reported from some parts of the world, including China,” the Union health ministry said in a statement.
It added, “…The seven cases have been detected as a part of an ongoing study at AIIMS Delhi in the six month period (April to September 2023) and are no cause for worry. Since January 2023 till date, NO Mycoplasma pneumonia was detected in the 611 samples tested at the Department of Microbiology, AIIMS Delhi as a part of ICMR’s multiple respiratory pathogen surveillance, which included mainly severe acute respiratory illness (SARI, which comprised about 95% of these cases) by real-time PCR.”
According to the health ministry, mycoplasma pneumonia, the common bacterial cause of community-acquired pneumonia, is the reason for nearly 15 to 30 percent of all infections. “Such surge has not been reported from any part of India,” it reiterated.
“The Union Health Ministry is in touch with state health authorities and is keeping a close watch on the situation on an everyday basis,” the ministry added.
On November 24, the health ministry had said that India is closely monitoring reported cases of pneumonia in children in China and is prepared to deal with any exigency, adding that there was a low risk to India as per the assessment so far.“Union Health Ministry is closely monitoring the outbreak of H9N2 and clusters of respiratory illness in children in China. There is a low risk to India from both the avian influenza cases reported from China as well as the clusters of respiratory illness. India is prepared for any kind of exigency that may emerge from the current situation,” it said in a statement.
Also read: Pneumonia outbreak in China: How Indian states are preparing
China has been reporting a surge in respiratory illnesses since the last week of November, sparking concerns of another pandemic-like situation. The situation came into the spotlight when the World Health Organisation (WHO) asked China for more information last week, citing a report by the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED) on clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children.
Recent reports suggested that the surge is due to unknown pathogens and there is no sign of new infectious diseases. One concern about the surge in respiratory illness is mycoplasma pneumonia, which has also spiked in other countries. According to a WHO official, mycoplasma pneumonia, also known as ‘walking pneumonia’, is not a reportable disease to the WHO. “It has been on the rise for the last couple of months but now appears to be declining. We're following up through our clinical networks and working with clinicians in China to better understand resistance to antibiotics, which is a problem across the world,” the official added.
(With inputs from agencies)
