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A surprising surge in pneumonia cases among children has been observed in the Netherlands, marking the second country to report such an outbreak within this week.
According to the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), based in Utrecht, approximately 80 out of every 100,000 children aged 5 to 14 contracted pneumonia in the previous week. This spike constitutes the highest recorded outbreak of pneumonia in recent years by NIVEL. For context, during the peak of the 2022 flu season, when pneumonia cases were prevalent, there were 60 recorded cases per 100,000 children in the same age group.
Despite efforts to investigate, neither NIVEL nor the Dutch equivalent of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) could offer an explanation for the escalating pneumonia cases.
Meanwhile, there are growing concerns about mysterious pneumonia cases in China. Recent reports have highlighted a surge in children presenting pneumonia symptoms at hospitals in Beijing and the Liaoning province.
Chinese officials informed the World Health Organization that no new pathogens had been identified in this outbreak. Instead, they attributed the illnesses to known seasonal viruses such as the flu and RSV, in addition to the bacteria Mycoplasma pneumoniae.
