Has China’s mystery pneumonia broken its borders? Cases surge in this European country

China has reported a worrying surge of a mysterious respiratory illness that is storming its way through their young population. The children are experiencing pneumonia-like symptoms, and in some areas kids are waiting 8 hours outside hospitals as the healthcare system is overwhelmed with cases.

Worryingly, not all children appear to be showing signs of the virus - many don’t even have a cough. Now there is concern that this illness has broken China’s borders and made its way to Europe. As the memory of Covid-19 still lingers in the EU, people are worried about rising numbers of pneumonia cases in the Netherlands and what this could mean.

What’s happening in the Netherlands?

The Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL) has released some worrying statistics: last week, 80 out of every 100,000 children in the Netherlands between ages 5 and 15 were treated for pneumonia. This is the largest outbreak that NIVEL has recorded in recent years.

A possible reason for the outbreak in China has been suggested: this is the first winter that the country has experienced since lifting Covid-19 restrictions, so youngsters are being exposed to all sorts of viruses for the first time. However, this logic doesn’t stand up in the Netherlands. People in this country may still be suffering the effects of long Covid, but the pandemic restrictions have been gone for a long time for the Dutch.

Could the outbreaks in the Netherlands and China be linked?

The WHO has issued an 'official request to China for detailed information' about the outbreak they are experiencing. Interestingly, as the New York Post points out:

The World Health Organization (WHO) and Chinese health officials argued that no new or unusual pathogens had been found in the pneumonia cases.

Professor Ian Jones from Reading University spoke to Mail Online, suggesting there could be no link at all between the surges in China and the Netherlands:

It could be a local seasonal epidemic that just happens to be co-incident with the cases in China.

Pneumonia can have many causes so I doubt this can be analysed properly until the underlying infection(s) is defined.

It seems the two outbreaks could be distinct issues, but we’ll have to wait for researchers to find out more before we know for sure.

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Sources used:

The Mirror: Fears China's 'mystery pneumonia' is spreading as European country sees alarming surge

New York Post: Mysterious child pneumonia cases spike in parts of Europe as COVID-like surge continues in China