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. 2024 Jan;29(2):2300704.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2024.29.2.2300704.

Increase of respiratory illnesses among children in Beijing, China, during the autumn and winter of 2023

Cheng Gong  1   2   3 , Fang Huang  1   2   3 , Luodan Suo  1   2 , Xuejiao Guan  1 , Lu Kang  1   2 , Hui Xie  1 , Geng Hu  1 , Peng Yang  1   2 , Quanyi Wang  1   2
Affiliations

Increase of respiratory illnesses among children in Beijing, China, during the autumn and winter of 2023

Cheng Gong et al. Euro Surveill. 2024 Jan.

Abstract

In 2023, through an ongoing respiratory pathogen surveillance system, we observed from mid-September onwards, an increase of respiratory illness among children aged ≤ 15 years presenting at hospital outpatient clinics in Beijing, China. Data indicated that illness was caused by multiple pathogens, predominantly Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Seasonality, periodicity and high prevalence of resistance to macrolide (30 of 30 strains sequenced with the A2063G mutation) were important characteristics of the M. pneumoniae epidemic, which resulted in a rise in consultations at specialised paediatric hospitals.

Keywords: Mycoplasma pneumoniae; pediatric pneumonia; respiratory illness; seasonality; surveillance.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Monthly distribution of reported numbers of outpatients with acute respiratory tract infection, including influenza-like illness or pneumonia, in (A) the overall population and (B) childrena, Beijing, China, 2019–2023 (n = 1,689,123 patients)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Monthly distribution of recruited cases of acute respiratory tract infection, who tested positive for a respiratory pathogena and overall respiratory pathogen detection rate among recruited cases (A) of all ages and (B) < 15 years old, Beijing, China, 2019–2023 (n = 11 respiratory pathogens)a
Figure 3
Figure 3
Monthly proportions of respiratory pathogens among children under 15 years old, Beijing, China, 2019–2023 (n = 12 respiratory pathogens)
Figure 4
Figure 4
Distribution of proportion of Mycoplasma pneumoniae positive samples among children less than 15 years old detected by the surveillance system, Beijing, China, 2019–2023
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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