'Misleading, ill-informed': Centre dismisses media report linking pneumonia cases in AIIMS Delhi to China

-

The central government on Thursday dismissed a media report linking detection of bacterial cases in AIIMS Delhi to the recent surge in pneumonia cases in China as “misleading and ill-informed.”

“A recent media report in a national daily has claimed that AIIMS Delhi has detected seven bacterial cases linked to the recent surge in pneumonia cases in China. The news report is ill-informed and provides misleading information,” said the government in a statement.

The statement clarified that 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 seven cases have been detected as part of an ongoing study at AIIMS Delhi in the six month period (April to September 2023) and is no cause for worry,” the statement added.

It further added that since January 2023 till date, no mycoplasma pneumonia was detected in the 61 samples tested at the Department of Microbiology at AIIMS.

“Mycoplasma pneumonia is the commonest bacterial cause of community-acquired pneumonia. It’ the reason for nearly 15-30 per cent of all such infections. Such surge has not been reported from any part of India,” the statement read.

It added that the Union Health Ministry is in touch with the state health authorities and is keeping a close watch on the situation on an everyday basis.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae, the bacteria linked to the recent rise in cases of respiratory illness (pneumonia) among children in China, has been found by AIIMS, New Delhi, in seven samples between April and September this year, The Times of India reported.

ToI cited a report published in ‘Lancet Microbe’, which said that one case was detected through PCR test carried out at early stages of the infection and six cases detected through IgM Elisa test that can be carried even at later stages.

With fresh memories of COVID-19, China experienced another spike in hospitalisations due to numerous cases of pneumonia among children. The spike in cases was attributed to the bacteria M-Pneumoniae, which quickly spread across the world including the US, the UK and  Israel.

Due to the surge, an alert was issued to monitor this walking pneumonia virus. In India, surveillance of the virus is being done at AIIMS Delhi and other centres.

With inputs from agencies



from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/9jAUyvY
Sonam Chauhan

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Both COVID-19 vaccine doses needed for good protection against B16172 variant

-
It’s been a concerning few weeks in the UK, with the B16172 variant first taking hold and then spreading to become dominant. This more infectious form of the virus, initially identified in India, is what we’re now going to have to live with – unless it is out-competed by another variant in the future. Worryingly, experts had predicted that B16172 might be able to escape some of the effects of vaccines, which if true would threaten to derail the UK’s plans to finish lifting restrictions from the end of June. However, Public Health England (PHE) has looked at the ability of various variants to evade immunity and says that the UK’s vaccines remain effective against the variants circulating, including B16172. On the surface, this looks like good news. But delve a bit deeper, and things get more complicated, says Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia. PHE’s research found a little drop-off in protection against B16172 among people who were fully vaccinated.
Read more

New coronavirus variant emerge in India: How should our COVID response change?

-
Image
After genome sequencing of over 10,000 COVID-19 cases in India, researchers have discovered a new variant with two new mutations which may be better at evading the immune system. In 15-20 percent of samples from the Indian state of Maharashtra (the state accounting for 62 percent of cases in the country) a new, double mutation in key areas of the virus has been detected. These are now known as the E484Q and L452R mutations. What makes the variant different? Both these mutations are concerning because they are located in a key portion of the virus – the spike protein – that it uses to penetrate human cells. Spike proteins attach via a “receptor binding domain”, meaning the virus can attach to receptors in our cells. These new mutations include changes to the spike protein that make it a “better fit” for human cells. This means the virus can gain entry more easily and multiply faster. Given what we have seen with other similar mutations , it might also make it harder for our immu
Read more

120 flights delayed, 30 trains running late; Delhi fog & cold wave continue to give shiver to travellers

-
Arrival and departure of 120 flights, both domestic and international, to Delhi airport were affected due to dense fog and cold wave conditions on Wednesday, according to Delhi Airport FIDS (Flight Information Display System). As per the Delhi Airport FIDS, a total of 53 flights, including 21 domestic arrivals, 16 domestic departures, 13 international departures and three international arrivals scheduled are cancelled and not operating due to fog and other operational reasons from and to Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in the national capital on 17 January. #WATCH | Delhi: Several flight operations delayed at IGI airport due to low visibility amid fog. pic.twitter.com/hG1DUKllEt — ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2024 Visuals from the Delhi airport showed passengers waiting outside, checking update of their scheduled flights. There were also some people waiting for flight of their families, friends and loved ones to arrive, which got delayed due to fog. #WATCH | Delhi | Pas
Read more