Center Dismisses Media Report Linking Pneumonia Cases in AIIMS Delhi to China as ‘Misleading and Ill-informed’

According to a recent media article in a national daily, AIIMS Delhi has found seven bacterial infections that are connected to the recent rise in pneumonia cases in China. The government released a statement saying, “The news report is misinformed and provides misleading information.”

A media story on Thursday that connected the discovery of bacterial cases at AIIMS Delhi to the recent spike in pneumonia cases in China was rejected as “misleading and ill-informed” by the national government.

According to a recent media article in a national daily, AIIMS Delhi has found seven bacterial infections that are connected to the recent rise in pneumonia cases in China. The administration released a statement saying, “The news report is misinformed and gives misleading information.”

The statement made it clear that these seven cases are completely unrelated to the current spike in pediatric respiratory illnesses that have been reported from China and other parts of the world.

“There is no need for concern as the seven cases were discovered during a six-month period (April to September 2023) as part of an ongoing study at AIIMS Delhi,” the statement continued.

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It also said that, as of January 2023, none of the 61 samples examined by the AIIMS Department of Microbiology had mycoplasma pneumonia.

The most frequent bacterial cause of community-acquired pneumonia is Mycoplasma pneumonia. It is the cause of between 15 and 30 percent of these illnesses. No region in India has reported experiencing such a spike, the statement said.

It further stated that the Union Health Ministry is regularly monitoring the situation and in regular communication with the state health authorities.

AIIMS, New Delhi, discovered Mycoplasma pneumoniae, the bacteria associated to the current increase in respiratory ailment (pneumonia) infections among youngsters in China, in seven samples between April and September of this year, source reported.

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ToI referenced a study that was published in “Lancet Microbe,” according to which six instances were found using the IgM Elisa test, which can be used even in later stages of the infection, and one case was found using a PCR test that was performed early in the infection.

Recalling the COVID-19 pandemic, China saw a surge in hospital admissions as a result of a high number of pediatric pneumonia cases. The bacteria M-Pneumoniae, which rapidly expanded over the world and reached the US, UK, and Israel, was blamed for the surge in cases.

An advisory was sent out to keep an eye on this walking pneumonia virus because of the rise. In India, AIIMS Delhi and other facilities are doing viral surveillance.