Closely monitoring outbreak of H9N2, clusters of respiratory illness in children in China: Health Ministry

New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry on Friday said it is keeping a close watch on the clusters of respiratory illness among children in northern China as well as the recent avian influenza (H9N2) outbreak in the communist country, even though the risks to the Indian population to both types of infections are low at the moment.

Officials said an increase in the incidence of respiratory diseases in China had been reported in the last few weeks, but the usual causes of respiratory illness in children were implicated. There has been no identification of an unusual pathogen or any unexpected clinical manifestations.

With the fear of Covid-19 pandemic fresh in mind, they said a review was also held recently to check India’s preparedness against human cases of H9N2 after the avian flu was reported from China in October.

“The overall risk assessment by WHO indicates a low probability of human to human spread and low case fatality rate among human cases of H9N2 reported to WHO so far. The need for strengthening surveillance among human, animal husbandry and wildlife sectors and improving coordination was recognised,” a spokesperson of the ministry said in a statement.

“India is ready for any kind of public health exigency,” she said.

The Health Ministry comments come two days after the World Health Organisation sought “additional epidemiologic and clinical information, as well as laboratory results” from the reported clusters among children from China, which on November 13 publicly spoke about a rise in the incidence of respiratory illness.

Officials said there was no cause for worry and a surveillance system was in place to detect the entry of unusual pathogens in India.

Earlier this month, Chinese authorities from the National Health Commission spotted an increase in the incidence of respiratory diseases, but attributed the upswing to the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions and circulation of known pathogens such as influenza, mycoplasma pneumoniae (a bacterial infection which typically affects younger children), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid-19).

The Chinese health officials also stressed the need for enhanced disease surveillance in healthcare facilities and community settings, as well as strengthening the capacity of the health system to manage patients.

On November 21, a section of the media and ProMED (one of the world’s largest publicly available emerging disease and outbreak reporting systems) reported clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in northern China.

The WHO said it was unclear if these were associated with an overall increase in respiratory infections previously reported by Chinese authorities, or separate events. The UN health body wrote to China on Nov 22 seeking additional information.

Since mid-October, northern China has reported an increase in influenza-like illness compared to the same period in the previous three years. China has systems in place to capture information on trends in influenza, influenza-like illnesses, RSV, and SARS-CoV-2 and reports to platforms such as the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System.