{"id":38313,"date":"2023-11-25T12:48:18","date_gmt":"2023-11-25T07:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=38313"},"modified":"2025-10-13T14:46:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T09:16:08","slug":"pneumonia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/pneumonia\/","title":{"rendered":"Pneumonia Outbreak in China"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in news?<\/li>\n<li>What is H9N2?<\/li>\n<li>News Summary: China reports mysterious respiratory illness among children<\/li>\n<li>Key highlights: China reports mysterious respiratory illness among children<\/li>\n<li>Response of WHO<\/li>\n<li>How is India monitoring the scenario?<\/li>\n<li>India\u2019s preparedness<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in news?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>A mysterious pneumonia-like respiratory illness is affecting children and overwhelming hospitals in certain clusters across northern China.<\/li>\n<li>In this context, the Union health ministry in India said there are low risk to India from avian influenza as well clusters of respiratory illness.<\/li>\n<li>The government further said it was closely monitoring the outbreak of H9N2 and clusters of respiratory illness in children in China.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>H9N2<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>About\n<ul>\n<li>H9N2 is a subtype of the influenza A virus, which causes bird flu and human influenza.<\/li>\n<li>It was first isolated in 1966 in Wisconsin, US from turkey flocks. H9N2 viruses are found in wild birds worldwide and are endemic in poultry in many areas.<\/li>\n<li>According to the WHO, with avian influenza viruses circulating in poultry, there is a risk for sporadic infection and small clusters of human cases due to exposure to infected poultry or contaminated environments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Human infections\n<ul>\n<li><u>H9N2 virus infections in humans are rare<\/u>, but likely under-reported due to typically mild symptoms of the infections.\n<ul>\n<li>The WHO&#8217;s overall risk assessment indicates a low probability of human to human spread and low case fatality rate among human cases of H9N2.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Cases of human infection have been observed in Hong Kong, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Egypt.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Spread of infection\n<ul>\n<li>Humans are usually infected through close contact with infected birds, bodily fluid droplets, or other contaminated material.<\/li>\n<li>Birds shed influenza viruses in their faeces, so contact with bird droppings is also a possible transmission route.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>First case in India\n<ul>\n<li>The virus was picked up in February 2019 during a community-based surveillance study in 93 villages of Korku tribes in Melghat district of Maharashtra.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>News Summary: China reports mysterious respiratory illness among children<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Recently, at a press conference, Chinese authorities reported an increase in incidence of respiratory diseases in China.<\/li>\n<li>They attributed them to circulation of common pathogens such as influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, COVID-19, and mycoplasma pneumonae.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Key highlights<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Signs and symptoms\n<ul>\n<li>The primary symptoms reported are consistent with pneumonia, like fever, cough, cold and breathing difficulties.<\/li>\n<li>Some children are requiring hospitalisation given the severity of the disease.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Explanation given by Chinese authorities\n<ul>\n<li>Chinese authorities attributed this increase to:\n<ul>\n<li>the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and<\/li>\n<li>the circulation of known pathogens such as:\n<ul>\n<li>influenza, mycoplasma pneumoniae (a common bacterial infection which typically affects younger children),<\/li>\n<li>respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and<\/li>\n<li>SARS-CoV-2 (virus that causes COVID-19)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Response of WHO<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/world-health-organisation\/\" target=\"_blank\"><u>World Health Organisation (WHO)<\/u><\/a> made an official request to China for detailed information on the illness.<\/li>\n<li>Although no known or new pathogen has been identified yet, the WHO is pressing the alert button in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.\n<ul>\n<li>It doesn\u2019t want to be caught unawares about a potential disease threat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>How is India monitoring the scenario?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Health Ministry said it is also monitoring the reported case of human H9N2 avian influenza in China that was reported in October.<\/li>\n<li>A meeting was held under the chairmanship of the director general of health services to discuss the preparedness measures for the same.<\/li>\n<li>As per the statement from the health ministry:\n<ul>\n<li>The overall risk assessment by the WHO indicates a low probability of human-to-human spread and low case fatality among humans;<\/li>\n<li>there was a low risk to India from both;<\/li>\n<li>India is prepared for any kind of public health exigency.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>India\u2019s preparedness<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>India is embarking on a One Health approach to adopt a holistic and integrated roadmap towards addressing such public health issues.<\/li>\n<li>There has also been a significant strengthening of health infrastructure especially since the COVID pandemic.<\/li>\n<li>PM-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM) was launched to develop capacities of health systems and institutions across the continuum of care at all levels, primary, secondary and tertiary.\n<ul>\n<li>It has prepared health systems in responding effectively to the current and future pandemics \/disasters.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>In addition, India\u2019s surveillance and detection networks under Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) have rich experience of dealing with challenging health situations during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1)\u00a0What is bird flu?<\/h3>\n<p>Bird flu, also known as avian influenza, is a type A influenza virus that spreads among birds. It can be lethal to poultry and potentially fatal in humans.<\/p>\n<h3>Q2) What is Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP)?<\/h3>\n<p>The Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) is a nationwide system in India that monitors diseases. It was launched in 2004 with the help of the World Bank. The IDSP is intended to be the backbone of the country&#8217;s public health delivery system.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/india\/closely-monitoring-low-risk-to-india-spike-in-respiratory-illness-china-9040690\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>\u2018Closely monitoring situation, low risk to India\u2019: Govt on spike in respiratory illness in China<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/pib.gov.in\/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1979403\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>PIB<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/what-is-h9n2-avian-influenza-which-has-infected-indian-child-6213193\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Indian Express<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A mysterious pneumonia-like respiratory illness is affecting children across northern China.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":38314,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-38313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}