Now MASSACHUSETTS says it's being hit by wave of pneumonia in children as Ohio county issues "white lung" warning - after China and Europe saw surge in cases and hospitalizations
Doctors in parts of Massachusetts and Ohio are reporting a spike in child pneumonia cases similar to the outbreak spreading in China and parts of Europe.
In Warren County, just 30 miles outside Cincinnati, there have been 142 pediatric cases of the condition — dubbed 'white lung syndrome' — since August, a figure health officials there described as 'extremely high'.
'Not only is this above the county average, it also meets the Ohio Department of Health definition of an outbreak,' the county's health department said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, in western Massachusetts, physicians are seeing 'a whole lot' of walking pneumonia, a milder form of the lung condition, which is being caused by a mixture of bacterial and viral infections.
Neither outbreak is being caused by a novel pathogen and not all of the pneumonia cases are being caused by the same infection. Experts say a mixture of several seasonal bacterial and viral bugs are hitting at once, putting pressure on hospitals.
It has raised fears that the outbreak that has overwhelmed hospitals China could hit the US this winter. Several European countries are battling similar crises.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12809869/us-child-pneumonia-outbreak-extremely-high-cases.html
