Doctors worldwide are in meltdown after China confirmed that the mystery pneumonia taking over the country has stopped responding to ALL antibiotics.
The Daily Star has been reporting how the strange unidentified virus has been causing chaos in China for weeks, with the world on high alert over fears a new pandemic could be on the way โ and no official confirmation as to what it actually is. Although it so far only seems to impact mainly children.
The panic saw officials in neighbouring countries such as India, who are wary of another virus spreading through their population following the outbreak of the coronavirus in 2019, readying themselves for action. It had already reached Europe โ with Denmark and Holland confirming an influx of cases โ with the World Health Organisation on high alert and said to be monitoring the situation.
READ MORE: World at 'high risk' of deadly flesh-eating Anthrax virus, claim panicked experts
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But now, in a new worrying development, a mother from China has confirmed that antibiotics given to her one-and-a-half-year-old daughter for the virus have not worked.
Rachel Qiao, speaking to Bloomberg, confirmed that she was warned by doctors that some youngsters weren't responding to the treatment, and her daughter has now developed โlesions in her lungs and continued to deteriorate even after she was switched to an intravenous dosage, given a stronger antibiotic and treated with other drugs to target the inflammation that developed around her heartโ.
She said: โI melted down. I was constantly stupefied by how much worse this thing could go.โ
Although no deaths have been reported yet, the fact that drugs appear not to work on it is bad news, Zuo-Feng Zhang, chair of epidemiology at the Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles said. He warned: โIf the antibiotic no longer works, the illness will stretch out longer. That increases the risk of spread and the outsized outbreaks that are occurring.โ
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Earlier this week, speaking exclusively to the Daily Star, Dr Gareth Nye, the Programme Lead for Medical Science and Chester Medical School, confirmed that the virus is another form of Covid. He said: โIt 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.
"This is simply an increase in diseases we already know about, namely another COVID virus SARS-CoV2, influenza, the bacteria that causes pneumonia and respiratory syncytial virus.โ
Dr Nye gave his four top tips for helping to combat โ or avoid โ the illness.
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If you have an active illness avoid coming into contact with other people if possible or use good hygiene and masks
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Keep up to date with available vaccinations, particularly for children
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Utilise over-the-counter therapies for the first five days of an illness before contacting GPs. Pharmacists are also great resources as is 111
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Get a good quality ear thermometer to check for high temperatures
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