China says no unusual pathogens found after WHO queries respiratory outbreaks
China has not detected any new or unknown pathogen amid rising respiratory illnesses in the country, a World Health Organization (WHO) official told Euronews Next.
"Today we had a call with colleagues from China's CDC and one of the main hospitals in Beijing to get an overview of what is actually happening across the country," Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's interim director for epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, said on Thursday evening.
"Essentially what China has been observing and picked up through their national surveillance systems is an increase in respiratory infections across the board, but mainly among school-aged children, and this is due to a number of pathogens that are known," she added.
Officials spoke via teleconference after WHO requested more details from China about clusters of pneumonia in children on Wednesday.
"They didn't detect any new pathogens or any unknown pathogens, and I think that's important to mention that it isn't something that's new, but that this increase is due to several known pathogens," said Van Kerkhove.
WHO said in a disease outbreak report issued on Thursday that these increases have come earlier in the season than historically experienced but that it was not unexpected given the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions earlier this year.
