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Jakarta reports infections linked to ‘mystery pneumonia’
Jakarta's health authorities have reported suspected cases of "mystery pneumonia" in the city but have not released any figures, citing ongoing laboratory tests for other concurrent infections.
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The Health Ministry released a circular in late November calling on health workers across the country to increase their monitoring of respiratory illnesses, after a recent outbreak of “mystery pneumonia” in northern China. (Shutterstock/Lemau Studio)
T
he Jakarta Health Agency has reported an unspecified number of suspected Mycoplasma pneumoniae cases among children, only days after the Health Ministry called for increased surveillance against the bacterium that is thought to be behind a recent pneumonia outbreak in northern China.
The agency’s epidemiological surveillance and immunization head Ngabila Salama said on Sunday that several children had been diagnosed with M. pneumoniae infection after their polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for the bacterium returned positive results.
M. pneumoniae typically affects younger children, and symptoms include coughing and sore throat. The illness is usually mild, and doctors sometimes call it “walking pneumonia” for this reason.
Ngabila declined to reveal how many children had been infected, only saying that health authorities were running more tests to determine how many cases were linked specifically to M. pneumoniae. This was because it was common for children to be infected concurrently with other viruses that caused pneumonia-like symptoms, such as influenza viruses, adenovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
“The main symptom is shortness of breath. [But infected children] might require extended hospitalization if their condition is serious," Ngabila said, as quoted by Kompas.id.
The Health Ministry declined to confirm the agency’s findings on Monday, when The Jakarta Post asked for it to comment on the matter, citing an established reporting system.
“The [Jakarta] Health Agency should have reported to the ministry first. We already have a system in place, so there is no need for me to confirm with the Health Agency,” the ministry’s disease control and prevention director general Maxi Rein Rondonuwu told the Post.
