On December 7, 2023, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released a public notice on the press information bureau that there was no association between a recent hike in respiratory infections affecting young kids in China and the seven pneumonia cases identified in AIIMS Delhi.

The notice claimed that the media reports were fallacious and erroneous. The report was published in the Lancet journal. The study aimed to find out in which of the four UN regions there is the re-emergence of Mycoplasma pneumonia, which has been absent during the COVID-19 pandemic and up to a period of 3 years immediately after the pandemic, that is, until March 2023. According to the report, the data from AIIMS Delhi has shown seven cases with positive results for M. pneumoniae. The data showed that after the upliftment of the pandemic restrictions, the resurfacing of respiratory infections of serious degree, like pneumonia caused by Mycoplasma species, had taken a lag period of three years. They analyzed four UN regions, including India, to study the pattern of re-emergence. They further reported in the study that the delay in the resurfacing of this infection could be attributed to factors such as a longer incubation period, slower generation time, and the low transmissibility of M. pneumonia. The study further stated that these new cases identified in the past six months should be further evaluated to predict whether there would be an increase in rare cases of severe disease (2).

However, this was misinterpreted in some national media reports. Hence, MoHFW released the PIB. It stated that the cases mentioned in the report were part of the study conducted between April and September 2023 and are completely irrelevant to the latest case hike of respiratory infections among Chinese children.

The press report of the Ministry further added that there is no need to worry as the Union Ministry, with the help of state health authorities, is maintaining close vigilance over the current situation on an everyday basis. In addition, the ministry added that the Department of Microbiology at AIIMS Delhi has been conducting Mycoplasma pneumonia surveillance since January 2023. Of the 611 samples tested, most had severe acute respiratory illness (SARI), accounting for approximately 95% of the cases. Real-time PCR was used to detect Mycoplasma pneumonia in these samples (1). Mycoplasma pneumonia is the bacterial etiology of community-acquired pneumonia that occurs most frequently. There have been no reports of such a rise from any place in India. It accounts for roughly 15–30% of all infections of this kind. There have been no reports of such a rise from any place in India.

References:

1. Myth vs. Facts [Internet]. [cited 2023, December 9].

Available from: https://www.pib.gov.in/www.pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1983438

2. Sauteur PMM, Beeton ML, Pereyre S, Bébéar C, Gardette M, Hénin N, et al. Mycoplasma pneumoniae: delayed re-emergence after COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The Lancet Microbe [Internet]. 2023 Nov 23 [cited 2023 Dec 9];0(0).

Available from: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(23)00344-0/fulltext.

(Input from various media sources)

 (Rehash/Bharkhavy K V)