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Now, About That 'Mysterious' Pneumonia Outbreak in China...
Hotair ^ | 11/28/2023 | David Strom

Posted on 11/28/2023 6:20:50 PM PST by SeekAndFind

Are you panicked yet?

You should be. I have reliable evidence that we are all going to die!

Of course, this has always been true and will remain so for the foreseeable future. But despite the media attempts to get people worked up about a “mysterious” outbreak of pneumonia in Chinese children, there is no indication that anything mysterious is happening in China or elsewhere in the world.

It appears to be true that children in some regions of China are getting pneumonia and winding up in hospitals, as far as I can tell in a news environment where trust has been broken, especially regarding anything related to politics or disease. But Dr. Robert Malone has written a Substack essay that explains why there is little to no cause for concern.

Or you could go with some reality based facts… as in this is the usual suspects of infectious disease that hit about this time of year. We all need to be exposed to viruses. It is how we build healthy immune systems. https://t.co/KYRPl0fnhm

— Robert W Malone, MD (@RWMaloneMD) November 28, 2023

First things first: bumps in respiratory infections are common in winter months. You don’t need an epidemiology degree to know this, because we all tend to get colds in the winter. The pathogens involved are well known, although there is a bit of dispute regarding why this happens in winter. Some say it is due to closer contact during the winter months; others attribute it to less exposure to sunshine. Whatever the case, it is normal and a pattern that has been known forever.

According to reports from China and the WHO, one of the main factors that makes this outbreak of respiratory illnesses unusual is the prevalence of mycoplasma pneumoniae, a bug that usually responds to antibiotics, to which there is considerable drug resistance in China for some reason.

Cynics such as myself, and at this point perhaps you also, will note that this is a pretty standard seasonal infectious disease pattern. Vaccination against influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and RSV will do nothing to suppress mycoplasma. In contrast, Vitamin D3 supplementation probably would, the deficit of which seems to strongly correlate or explain (depending on who you talk to) much of the seasonal variation in respiratory infections.

Sensing another infectious disease clickbait opportunity, the usual hack pharma-sponsored corporate media outlets and “journalists” posing as infectious disease specialists jumped on this story without bothering to really comprehend before banging out their pieces, spreading and amplifying fear for profit. This nicely fed the meme that China is a huge, mysterious source of threatening respiratory pathogens which will sweep the world and kill children. Which then lead multiple social media followers and activists to ask me to bring clarity to this situation, which in turn resulted in this substack essay.

Malone refers to a more responsible article from Time which avoids the scaremongering that has become common these days.

Local media have reported a steady rise in infections from a pathogen called mycoplasma among kindergarten and primary school children. While the germ tends to cause only mild colds in older kids and adults with robust immune systems, younger children are prone to develop pneumonia — with symptoms lasting for weeks.

Data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention also showed the influenza positivity rate climbing steadily in October, even as Covid rates continue to trend down following a small peak over the summer.

Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, China’s top medical center for respiratory diseases, has seen the mycoplasma positivity rate among children rising to 40% — compared to just 6% among adults — the hospital’s vice dean Tong Zhaohui said at a briefing in the city last week. Mycoplasma tends to cause major outbreaks every three to seven years, he warned.

In other words, the outbreak is hardly unusual, but the outbreaks wax and wane over time. This year, it is waxing. And one of the main reasons why hospitals are overrun is that parents have been made paranoid by the COVID hysteria that swept the world, and China in particular.

Up to 60% to 70% of adult cases and up to 80% of cases in kids don’t respond to the drug, azithromycin, and others in the same class of antibiotics, Yin Yudong, an infectious disease doctor at Chaoyang, told Beijing News earlier this month.

That’s sparked a rush by anxious parents to top children’s hospitals in some Chinese mega-cities. Local media reports have showed several prestigious pediatric medical centers in Beijing teeming with parents and sick kids, while the time it takes for families to see an emergency room doctor has in some cases stretched to more than seven hours.

Is it possible that there is some mysterious disease that will leap out of China and kill us all? Of course there is, as has been true since the beginning of time. The Black Plague did so, traveling along trade routes and wiping out half of Europe. And in modern times, China has gifted us some nasty diseases, and the Chinese biological research lab likely gave us COVID.

But not all bad things are caused by nefarious actors, and this particular panic is likely the result of clickbaiting media, not a lab release or anything sinister. It likely isn’t even anything particularly unusual. Malone himself has gotten the bug a number of times over the years, and while any bug can metastasize into something nastier than usual, for most people, the results will be some period of time feeling really crappy.

In other words, winter is here.



TOPICS: China; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: apply4welfare; china; donatefreerepublic; jimknows; outbreak; pneuomonia
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1 posted on 11/28/2023 6:20:50 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

.


2 posted on 11/28/2023 6:35:40 PM PST by sauropod (The obedient always think of themselves as virtuous rather than cowardly.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Time to block all flights from China into the US.


3 posted on 11/28/2023 6:58:04 PM PST by posterchild
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To: SeekAndFind

Could the major floods that have been occurring in China, causing extensive proliferation of mold have anything to do with a steep rise in pneumonia?

I don’t see how a mold outbreak in a damp region could become a vector of mold, or the diseases it might cause, in outside regions that don’t have conditions supportive of mold growth.


4 posted on 11/28/2023 7:15:13 PM PST by TigersEye (Our Republic is under seige by globalist Marxists. Hold fast!)
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To: TigersEye

Apparently there has also been a significant increase in the Netherlands in the past two years.

https://www.foxnews.com/health/childhood-pneumonia-surge-reported-netherlands-outbreak-china


5 posted on 11/28/2023 7:33:16 PM PST by mbj
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To: mbj

Well there’s a country that is damp and cold naturally so I have to wonder what their weather conditions have been in these last two years.


6 posted on 11/28/2023 7:37:21 PM PST by TigersEye (Our Republic is under seige by globalist Marxists. Hold fast!)
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To: SeekAndFind
But Dr. Robert Malone has written a Substack essay that explains why there is little to no cause for concern.

Hopefully there is not despite the fact this guy says it. But the fact he does is real reason for concern.

I'm sure he has a product to sell that would save us all.

7 posted on 11/28/2023 7:54:13 PM PST by Republican Wildcat
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To: TigersEye

Oh, of course - there’s the culprit. Climate change!


8 posted on 11/28/2023 7:54:43 PM PST by Republican Wildcat
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To: Republican Wildcat

LOL

I think you have stretched my intent a leetle bit.


9 posted on 11/28/2023 7:58:43 PM PST by TigersEye (Our Republic is under seige by globalist Marxists. Hold fast!)
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To: TigersEye

Could it be the AVERAGE STANDARD OF LIVING in the Chinese DICTATORIAL shithole?


10 posted on 11/28/2023 8:50:25 PM PST by 5th MEB
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To: TigersEye

The particular region where it started up...is ‘bunched-up’ against North Korea. I looked at the map...mostly a rural region...a few major cities. I don’t think floods were affecting the area much. One would think that North Korea has the problem already.


11 posted on 11/28/2023 8:57:20 PM PST by pepsionice
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To: 5th MEB

I’m sure that’s a big factor.


12 posted on 11/28/2023 8:59:17 PM PST by TigersEye (Our Republic is under seige by globalist Marxists. Hold fast!)
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To: pepsionice

More than a million people displaced from their homes sounds like a big affect to me.


13 posted on 11/28/2023 9:00:52 PM PST by TigersEye (Our Republic is under seige by globalist Marxists. Hold fast!)
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To: posterchild

But that would be racist

PedoJoe


14 posted on 11/28/2023 9:01:25 PM PST by A_Former_Democrat (Nancy's beard is larger than a pirate's . . . Covering for Pervert Paulie)
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To: posterchild

Right. They sneak in by going to a different city with a shuttle flight to get to NYC or somewhere if they get banned.
But at least try to keep them out.

Nearly every big epidemic for hundreds of years started in China, even with phony names for them later.


15 posted on 11/28/2023 11:02:53 PM PST by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging.It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls.)
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To: SeekAndFind

It’s nothing.

Flu, colds.


16 posted on 11/29/2023 12:05:13 AM PST by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: Republican Wildcat

Dr. Malone was a pioneer of mRNA vaccines and you, you know nothing.


17 posted on 11/29/2023 1:28:20 AM PST by wildcard_redneck (With the Federal DOJ illegally hounding President Trump he has become the 1st true black president's)
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To: Republican Wildcat
”I'm sure he has a product to sell that would save us all.

I am not aware of any products that Dr Robert Malone sells. Please let us all know exactly what products you are accusing him of selling. This brave Doctor risked his career and medical license to get the truth out about the real dangers of using mRNA as vaccines. Have you no shame?

18 posted on 11/29/2023 2:47:51 AM PST by Apple Pan Dowdy (... as American as Apple Pie. Normal is not coming back, but Jesus will. )
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To: posterchild
Time to block all flights from China into the US.

Yes, make them fly to Mexico and walk across the open border like several million other people have done.

19 posted on 11/29/2023 4:26:56 AM PST by Pollard (The US government has US citizens as political prisoners!)
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To: SeekAndFind

The only part of the article that I believe; seeing how China has socialized medicine:

“the time it takes for families to see an emergency room doctor has in some cases stretched to more than seven hours.”


20 posted on 11/29/2023 6:16:39 AM PST by GrannyAnn ( )
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