Yasmina Kattou, edited by Gauthier Delomez / Photo credits: JEFF PACHOUD / AFP
Last week, consultations for pneumonia were up 36% among those under 15 in France. A sharp increase which is linked to the explosion of respiratory diseases in China, and the return of a bacteria which had disappeared since the health crisis. On Europe 1, an infectious disease specialist warns against this resurgence.
Is the explosion of respiratory diseases in China already having repercussions in France? The increase in cases of flu, Covid-19 but also pneumonia in China is linked to the bacteria called “mycoplasma pneumoniae”, which is also responsible for numerous lung infections in France, particularly in children. Consultations were actually up 36% last week among those under 15.
Among these pulmonary infections, some are due to this bacteria which had almost completely disappeared since Covid thanks to barrier measures.
Symptoms similar to the flu or Covid
This resurgence could have consequences, warns infectious disease specialist Gilles Pialoux on Europe 1. “We can imagine that for a population, which, for three years has not seen a germ and therefore has not developed immunity, this could be the opportunity to see serious forms of this disease which may exist , particularly in children, in immunocompromised people or in the elderly,” explains the doctor.
The symptoms resemble those of the flu or Covid: fever, severe fatigue, cough. Antibiotics are believed to be effective, but it remains unclear whether this is a new strain resistant to treatment. It is impossible to say at the moment.
In the meantime, infectious disease specialist Gilles Pialoux recalls that if the mycoplasma pneumoniae bacteria disappeared during Covid, it is thanks to health measures. The doctor therefore encourages the French to ventilate the rooms every hour and take out the masks in the event of symptoms.