Pneumonia Scare: Cases In AIIMS Delhi Not Linked To China's Respiratory Infection Cases, Says Health Ministry

Pneumonia cases in AIIMS Delhi have no link to the recent surge in respiratory infections in children in China, an official statement issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Thursday. Rejecting the media reports claiming the link between the two, the Health Ministry said that the news report is ill-informed and provides misleading information. "It is 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 a part of an ongoing study at AIIMS Delhi in the six-month-period (April to September 2023) and are no cause for worry," the ministry said.

Ministry further informed that 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. "Mycoplasma pneumonia is the commonest bacterial cause of community-acquired pneumonia. It is the reason for nearly 15-30 per cent of all such infections. Such a surge has not been reported from any part of India," the Health Ministry informed.

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