Health experts and doctors around the world are worried following China’s confirmation that a mysterious pneumonia outbreak is not responding to any known antibiotics. This revelation has intensified fears of a potential new pandemic, particularly as the nature of the virus remains unconfirmed.

The Daily Star reports that this unidentified virus, predominantly affecting children, has been causing significant alarm in China for weeks. The situation has escalated to a point where neighboring countries, like India, already wary from the coronavirus outbreak in 2019, are preparing for potential spread. Cases have also been reported in Europe, with Denmark and Holland confirming an influx, prompting the World Health Organization to begin monitoring the situation.

A recent development adding to the alarm is a firsthand account from a mother in China, Rachel Qiao, who spoke to Bloomberg. She shared that her one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, despite being treated with a stronger antibiotic and other drugs, has developed “lesions in her lungs and continued to deteriorate.” Qiao described her despair, saying, “I melted down. I was constantly stupefied by how much worse this thing could go.”

Zuo-Feng Zhang, chair of epidemiology at the Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, highlighted the severity of the situation. “If the antibiotic no longer works, the illness will stretch out longer. That increases the risk of spread and the outsized outbreaks that are occurring,” he warned.

Amidst this troubling situation, Dr. Gareth Nye, Programme Lead for Medical Science at Chester Medical School, told the Daily Star that this virus appears to be another form of Covid, but not a new disease like COVID-19. He explained, “It seems to be true that China is seeing a surge in respiratory diseases particularly in children but crucially, this is not a new disease like COVID-19 was.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)