Mystery illness 'white lung syndrome' sparks fears as cases rise across world

01 December 2023 , 10:36

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A mum is pictured in a Chinese hospital, holding her child who has respiratory symptoms (Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)

A mystery illness has sparked global health fears after it was recorded in Europe following cases in the US and China.

Symptoms of white lung syndrome include a fever, cough and fatigue, as well as green mucus (phlegm) and shortness of breath. Rates of the broader type of pneumonia have reached "epidemic" levels in Denmark, doctors there say, days after The Netherlands reported its own alarming spike in children battling white lung syndrome.

It is a type of pneumonia - characterised by a dangerous inflammation of the lungs - and it is particularly prevalent in children at the moment. Nearly 150 cases of pneumonia widely have been recorded in Ohio, US, alone in the past month.

In the state, the Warren County Health Department has said it's working with the Ohio Department of Health as well as local children's hospitals, primary care providers (PCPs) and others as the agency works to mitigate the spread of cases. But doctors in Denmark are more concerned. They say the spread of white lung syndrome, thought to be a type of mycoplasma pneumonia, can be prevented by hand washing, the covering of mouths when coughing, and staying at home while ill.

Hanne-Dorthe Emborg, senior researcher at Statens Serum Institut (SSI), said: "For the past four years, the number of mycoplasma infections has been extremely low, and it is therefore not unusual that we have an epidemic now. We have actually been waiting for it since we closed the country after the Covid pandemic.

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"Precisely because the number has been so low in the past three-and-a-half years, and there is therefore a group of children who have not built up immunity, we can probably also expect a higher incidence this season than what has been seen during previous mycoplasma epidemics before the pandemic."

White lung syndrome is suspected to have spread in China, which insists it has taken measures to prevent the transmission of it and other respiratory illnesses after Covid. The country's foreign minister Wang Yi said: "It (pneumonia) is a very common phenomenon in many countries, and in China that has been put under effective control.

"China's interactions with the international community will not be affected by any factors, and we welcome more visits from friends from across the world."

Bradley Jolly