Is this Round 2 of a new Pandemic?

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A recent article discussed the antibiotic drug resistance in China as compared to many other countries in the world.

Doctors in China say they may have found culprit of ‘white lung’ pneumonia outbreak: Superbugs

Antibiotics can treat bacteria but are ineffective against viruses. If they are given to people suffering from a virus, they can create over time a resistance to the antibiotic making it useless. This may be going on in China at the moment. A map shows the level of antibiotic resistance across many countries of the world including China. China has lost over 97 percent of its resistance to treat mycoplasma pneumoniae infections. This study was from 2011 - 2016 and the 97% number may be approaching 100%. That makes China extremely vulnerable to this type of infection in children.

I came across a recent article
Self-Medication with Antibiotics Among Children in China: A Cross-Sectional Study of Parents’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices

The article was published on 18 December 2023

Self-medication with antibiotics (SMA) among children is a common practice in low-income and middle-income countries, which has accelerated antibacterial abuse.

The self medicating of antibiotics in China may have lead to antibiotics resistance.

This article concludes, The prevalence of SMA in children is high in China. Higher knowledge scores and practices of buying and storing non-prescribed antibiotics behaviors increased parents’ antibiotic self-medication in their children.

Thus the problem of self medicating their children spans several area of society and is not just limited to the rural poor.

One of the problems the world faces is an almost halt to the development of new antibiotics. As a result, the world is becoming more vulnerable to new plagues. One article from the World Health Organization reports:

Development of new antibacterial treatments is inadequate to address the mounting threat of antibiotic resistance, according to the annual pipeline report by the World Health Organization.

Since 2017 only 12 antibiotics have been approved, 10 of which belong to existing classes with established mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

“There is a major gap in the discovery of antibacterial treatments, and more so in the discovery of innovative treatments,” said Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Assistant Director-General on AMR. “This presents a serious challenge to overcoming the escalating pandemic of antimicrobial resistance and leaves every one of us increasingly vulnerable to bacterial infections including the simplest infections.”

More broadly the report describes that, of the 77 antibacterial agents in clinical development, 45 are traditional direct-acting small molecules and 32 are non-traditional agents. Examples of the latter are monoclonal antibodies and bacteriophages, which are viruses that can destroy bacteria. Since antibiotics now have a limited lifespan before drug resistance emerges, non-traditional approaches offer new opportunities to tackle infections from resistant bacteria from different angles as they can be used complementarily and synergistically or as alternatives to established therapies.

Barriers to development of new products include the lengthy pathway to approval, high cost and low success rates. It currently takes approximately 10–15 years to progress an antibiotic candidate from the preclinical to the clinical stages. For antibiotics in existing classes, on average, only one of every 15 drugs in preclinical development will reach patients. For new classes of antibiotics, only one in 30 candidates will reach patients.

“Time is running out to get ahead of antimicrobial resistance, the pace and success of innovation is far below what we need to secure the gains of modern medicine against age-old but devastating conditions like neonatal sepsis,” said Dr Haileyesus Getahun, WHO Director of AMR Global Coordination. Approximately 30% of newborns with sepsis die due to bacterial infections resistant to first-line antibiotics.

Lack of innovation set to undermine antibiotic performance and health gains

What occurred in China during the past few months is a prime example of what happens when an antibiotic loses its ability. It caused a wave of children in China standing in line for hours looking to be cured. And this may only be the beginning.

We also need to strictly enforce the controls in place to use these antibiotics properly. They should not be used on viruses where they provide no help. They must be used wisely.

It is also very important to preclude the development of new man-made viruses and bacteria. COVID is an example of what happens when experiments go wrong. We (in my humble opinion) created a new virus by breaking two viruses apart into pieces and then reassembling the pieces creating a new virus and millions of people died. We should not weaponize the development of new viruses or bacteria.

Someone set off a chain reaction and look where it led.

Antibiotic Treatment and Resistance in U.S.

Macrolides (e.g., azithromycin): Children and adults.
Tetracyclines (e.g., doxycycline): Older children and adults.
Fluoroquinolones: Adults.

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The harm caused by antibiotic drug resistance was clear to see in China’s packed pediatric hospitals.

Global Threat

The situation in China highlights the global challenge. The WHO warned for years that overuse of antibiotics made some of the most common bacteria less responsive to existing drugs, calling it a silent epidemic.

Resistance “threatens to send us back to a time when minor infections were untreatable,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a November video that marked the World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week.

It’s already deadly. Antibiotic resistance contributed to nearly 5 million deaths worldwide in 2019, according to the WHO. Drug-resistant illnesses are projected to lead to an estimated $1 trillion in health-care costs and as much as $3.4 trillion in economic losses by 2050, according to the World Bank.

While health authorities in China have sought to reduce misuse and educate the public, common misconceptions persist. For example, many people consider antibiotics standard for colds, despite the fact that colds are caused by viruses that don’t respond to the drugs.

“That type of use on a large scale can lead to increases in resistance, which means it’s more difficult to treat the people that really need the antibiotics,” said Ben Cowling, chair of epidemiology at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health.

“Very few kids here in the U.S. have had antibiotics from IV drips by the time they hit adolescence, but which kid in China hasn’t?” asked UCLA’s Zhang. “That’s a thing the hospital will do even for minor ailments.”

“We have to take various measures to curb antibiotic drug resistance,” Yin Yudong, an infectious disease doctor at Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, the nation’s top respiratory disease center, told local media Beijing News in November. “Otherwise, we risk having no treatments for children.”

Source: China’s Children Battling Pneumonia Shows the Dangers of Drug Resistance

I mentioned this article here on 14 December 2023. It is a pretty important article about the threat sitting right in front of our door. Future pandemics are breathing down our throats. We need a plan of action. This thread describes a four step approach (in detail) to survive a serious antibiotic resistant pandemic caused by Mycoplasma Pneumoniae Pneumonia in children.

I wish I understand this, it is tooooooo much reading, tooo much reading is toooo confusing to me & I REALLY CANNOT understand. It's Weird, I used to love to read when I was younger.

I am sorry that I used too much words. So I will try and keep it simple.
1. Beginning in 2019 the world was struck by a global pandemic. It was a virus called COVID.
2. The world is about to be struck by another plague. It started in the middle of 2023 in China and will soon appear throughout the earth. This new plague is caused by a bacteria not a virus. But it is a very, very small bacteria, just a little bit bigger then a virus.
3. This next plague will strike children, mostly small children.
4. The medicine (antibiotics) used to treat this disease will no longer work. As a result, kids will suffer.
5. We do not have a good choice to cure these infected children. There are other antibiotics but they have many problems. To develop a good replacement antibiotic normally takes years and years and years. So what are the options?
6. Rather then treat this like we did with COVID and leave it up to doctors and nurses to help people survive a great pandemic. I am proposing using a physicist/engineering approach to protect these young children. This thread is my mind working through finding and defining the problem and then developing a solution.
7. This thread provides a 4 step approach for children to survive the threat. This approach relies on science and engineering and is different then the approach of using antibiotics. It is possible that a new antibiotic may be developed for this threat, but that may take many years and by then million of children will die or receive serious injuries.

I came across another article of interest. The article is unlocking information that China is hiding from the world. The area being discussed is a little south of Beijing where the new pandemic began. This time the area is Henan province in China. Although the article seems to be trying to put the pieces together and thinks this is perhaps JN.1, I suspect they need to pull back a little bit and see THE BIG PICTURE. I think if they looked deeper they would see that the real cause is Antibiotic Resistance Mycoplasma Pneumoniae Pneumonia

JN.1 driving death rates in China: Report

The Agency News Desk (glamstam enfotainment magazine) claimed that the country’s crematoriums are working round the clock due to a surge in Covid deaths.

Locals in Henan province in China reportedly revealed that government-run crematoriums are operating all day, and even during the night.

The report claimed that many locals are suffering from fevers and colds, and the local hospitals are all full. Many children have been infected, and more elderly people have died from pneumonia.

According to Zhou Xiang (name changed), a resident in Nanyang city of Henan Province, the people are not allowed to call their illness Covid.

“Now, they are not allowed to say that it is related to Covid-19,” Zhou was quoted as saying. “They attribute the elderly patients’ infections to their underlying diseases, because the medical system does not allow them to say that there is Covid-19 virus. Patients’ requests to take Covid-19 test are all denied, and when they ask the doctors (if it’s Covid-19), the doctors don’t tell them. Actually, ordinary people all know that it’s still Covid-19.”

Zhou said in addition to the elderly, “the young people and children” are also dying. But “the handling of their deaths are relatively low-key. It would be enough for relatives and friends to know about it.”

Zhou said that he visited the funeral home twice in recent days to attend funerals and noticed that it was getting crowded. He said that his friend who worked in a funeral home told him that their crematoriums now operate 24 hours a day, the report.

“There are eight crematoriums in the funeral home, all cremating corpses 24 hours a day, which is quite scary,” he said. (IANS)

I dug a little deeper about the outbreak of mysterious pneumonia sweeping across China. The article focused on Henan Province. This article provides some more information. I think if they looked deeper they would see that the real cause is Antibiotic Resistance Mycoplasma Pneumoniae Pneumonia. Even though the article describes several causes, I believe all these causes are interrelated.

Residents in one of the most populous provinces of China revealed that a large number of people have died from it, causing another boom in business for the local private funeral industry.

This wave of pneumonia started to be noticed spreading in China in September mostly among children, spiked in mid-October, and further worsened in November, spreading to other age groups while continuing to sweep across the country. The CCP has attributed the outbreak to cross-infections of influenza, mycoplasma pneumonia, respiratory syncytial virus, rhinovirus, and other respiratory infections, while avoiding mention and downplaying COVID-19.

Sean Lin, an assistant professor in the Biomedical Science Department at Feitian College, a U.S. Army microbiologist, and an Epoch Times contributor, said in late November, “[CCP] officials are still concealing that COVID-19 never really completely disappeared in China.”

Residents in Henan Province in central China, the third most populous province in the country, revealed that many people have been infected and died from the pneumonia outbreak but there is an unspoken rule in the state medical system to avoid any mention of COVID-19.

Zhou Xiang (pseudonym), a resident in Nanyang city of Henan Province, recently told The Epoch Times that there are many locals suffering from fevers and colds, and that the local hospitals are all full. While many children have been infected, more elderly people have died from pneumonia.

“Now, they are not allowed to say that it is related to COVID-19,” Mr. Zhou said. “They attribute the elderly patients’ infections to their underlying diseases, because the medical system does not allow them to say that there is COVID-19 virus. Patients’ requests to take COVID-19 test are all denied, and when they ask the doctors [if it’s COVID-19], the doctors don’t tell them. Actually, ordinary people all know that it’s still COVID-19.”

Mr. Zhou said that he noticed more obituaries recently in his community, mostly for the elderly. “There are also young people and children among those who died, but they usually don’t have obituaries, and the handling of their deaths are relatively low-key. It would be enough for relatives and friends to know about it.”

Mr. Liu (pseudonym), also a resident of Henan province, told The Epoch Times that some of his colleagues were infected with pneumonia and their symptoms were more serious. “Many children are also infected,” he said. “People all think it is the reappearance of the COVID-19 epidemic.”

In recent days, Mr. Mu (pseudonym), who is from Henan but works in Beijing, told The Epoch Times that he returned to Henan to escape the pneumonia outbreak in Beijing. “The epidemic in Beijing is indeed serious,” he said.

However, he found that there are many infections in Henan as well. He said he learned from WeChat groups that a 53-year-old female teacher in Henan suddenly fell down and died, and a 49-year-old man also died the same way, adding that these kinds of deaths attract the most comments on social media. “The COVID-19 plague is always around,” he said.

Mr. Shao (pseudonym) in Xuchang city, Henan province, told The Epoch Times that many local people have developed serious symptoms alongside their fevers and colds, and that some have died. There are many patients who have developed “white lung,” which is typical of lung damage and pulmonary fibrosis seen in severe COVID-19 cases. Others have been discharged from the hospital without having fully recovered.

“My uncle is one of them. There are many people like this in the hospital,” Mr. Shao said. He added that every hospital is crowded with many patients, just like a busy market place.

Mr. Shao also described hearing about sudden deaths of people, with the current epidemic situation reminding him of the massive COVID-19 outbreak a year ago.

Meanwhile, sudden deaths and worsening infections have been reported in other places across China.

Mr. Peng (pseudonym), a resident of Hengyang city in Hunan Province on the south bank of the Yangtze River, said that there were 10 people in his office, three of whom have fevers and are on sick leave, and two of whom died suddenly in previous months.

A netizen in eastern Jiangsu Province posted on Dec. 22 saying, “This winter is so difficult. My child has a recurring fever and cough and is still sick. I was also infected,” alongside her elderly mother, she said.

Local residents in Henan revealed that government-run crematoriums are operating day and night, and that the number of funerals has increased sharply.

Mr. Zhou revealed that in Nanyang City, in addition to government-run funeral homes under the Civil Affairs Bureau, the number of local private funeral parlors and morgues has increased dramatically in the past two or three years.

“The morgues of government-run funeral homes cannot meet the needs of the public. In the past three years, many private funeral homes have opened, and business has been booming. The number of local funerals has increased sharply. Now, the crematoriums are operating every day, and the corpses waiting to be burned are put in the freezers. It takes a long time to wait in line for cremation,” he said.

“As far as I know, there are at least five new funeral homes that are privately owned, like private morgues. They are also registered with the Civil Affairs Bureau.”

Source: Funeral Business Is Booming Again in Central China Amid Worsening Pneumonia Outbreak

I thought I would summarize some of the main points in this thread.
The world is currently dealing with an Antibiotic Resistance form of Mycoplasma Pneumoniae Pneumoni.
Normally Macrolides (e.g., azithromycin) was used to treat this condition. But now this cure has come to an end.

According to the internet:
Macrolides are a class of drugs used to manage and treat various bacterial infections. Azithromycin, clarithromycin, and erythromycin are commonly used to treat infections like pneumonia, sinusitis, pharyngitis, and tonsillitis. They are also used in uncomplicated skin infections and otitis media in pediatric patients.

Although it would be nice if we had a replacement antibiotic on hand to treat this condition but that is not the case. There are other drugs that can be used but they have severe side effects.

Also most people are unaware that the world has lost this antibiotic. China is hiding the death toll. It is large.

On this thread, I have proposed a 4 step approach to protect individuals from this threat. In a way it is derived from an approach that I used successfully to protect myself and my family from COVID and it worked. It is a physics/engineering approach. It does not rely on the use of antibiotics but rather science.

I will begin by focusing on mask. At the beginning of the COVID pandemic mask for small children did not exist. Most children didn't suffer from COVID and if they did get infected, there was enough resistance from known antibiotics that allowed them to recover. But that is no longer the case.

N95 masks can shield individuals from COVID and also in my humble opinion from this new pandemic (Antibiotic Resistance form of Mycoplasma Pneumoniae Pneumoni) that is currently underway. But they must be used properly. N95 masks are very unique. They are very special. During the beginning of the COVID pandemic many of the masks that appeared on the market were made in CHINA and around 50% of these masks could not pass the stringent test required. They failed the test. I suspect that many of the N95 child masks that are currently being sold will also not pass these tests. These child N95s must be tested before they can claim they represent part of the solution. There is one child N95 mask that has passed these tests and it is called KID95 masks produced by United States Mask. No I am not saying that other mask that are currently available for kids cannot pass the stringent test requirements. BUT THEY MUST BE TESTED. These masks are currently available on the market.

But what about the older children and also the older adults. There are a variety of masks available that can meet this requirement. But again they must also be tested. Of all the masks built, the one that I liked the most was called a Moldex 4200. Most N95 mask that provide 2 way protection are very hard to use. I am old and it is hard to breath through these masks. But this particular Moldex 4200 uses a ridge construction design. It is almost like not wearing a mask at all. It is very easy to breath through. Therefore I suspect that the company Moldex will bring back this masks into production if the need arises.

Now the next point is this type of masks should be used indoors. Generally you can take off the mask when you go outside. The sunlight and wind currents will generally diffuse the viruses or bacteria present in the air. But there is an exception to this rule. When people travel in vehicles like buses, cars, boats, airplanes, and SCHOOL BUSES. When traveling in groups within vehicles it is like being indoors. To be protected one must wear a masks. And if they eat lunch at school, they must eat it outdoors where the air is clean.

This is a seasonal threat. It occurs in low humidity environment such as cold weather (humidity less than 40 percent) and also in high humidity environment such as warm weather (humidity above 60 percent). Most of the threat is severe when indoor humidity is below 10% or above 90%.

Another important bit of information to understand is how far the virus/bacteria can spread indoors. Early studies showed it can be spread 50 feet indoors. So when nations developed the guidelines of 3 feet or 6 feet, they were dead wrong. It is a highly spreadable disease.

Although some masks were available during the beginning days of the pandemic, most were pulled from the market and reserved for doctors and nurses. The important thing to understand is that a mask does not need to be thrown away after it is used. It can be purified using UVC radiation and then reused. I wore my first mask for 3 months and it protected me just fine. I just purified it when I arrived home.

Speaking about homes. You can simplify the process by making your home your safe area. You just need to keep the humidity levels between 40 and 60%. In a world with air conditioners and humidifiers, this is fairly easy to accomplish. Then use the proper type of air cleaner to pull out any viruses or bacteria from the air. This can be done by using HEPA air filters or air filters that used UVC light to purify the air. This technology has been around for many years and is readily available. It is very easy to make your home your castle, one that you can walk safely around without having to wear a mask to protect yourself.

One must wear the masks properly. Many times I saw people walking around with mask but they pulled the mask slightly down so they could breath easier. If the mask does not cover the mouth and nose, it is not being used properly.

A recent article also adds a few more points to the discussion.

One is a bacteria, Mycoplasma, which has been causing outbreaks of respiratory illness in China since June this year. . . In Taiwan, however, reports have suggested there’s a high level of antibiotic resistance to Mycoplasma, which may explain why it’s causing more hospital admissions.

People can become infected with SARS-CoV-2 and other bacteria or viruses at the same time, which may also explain the severity of the current epidemic. One study showed co-infection with SARS-CoV-2 and Mycoplasma is very common and results in more serious complications.

How worried should we be about the pneumonia outbreak in China?

What China is currently facing is A Perfect Storm.



It is a combination of two different elements: Corona Virus Disease (COVID) + Antibiotic Resistance form of Mycoplasma Pneumoniae Pneumoni.

COVID is striking the elderly and those with immune deficiencies.
Antibiotic Resistance form of Mycoplasma Pneumoniae Pneumoni is striking their young children.

It is the worse of two storms. China has maintained a radical lock down and as a result never built up the natural immunities that the rest of the world achieved. But the current variants are so contagious, that their normal approach of isolation no longer works. After COVID struck, many labs began working on developing a cure. Two of these cures were state-of-the-art and very effective. They were developed by Pfizer and Moderna.

So what makes these special?

Both vaccines are made using a technology called messenger RNA (mRNA).

An mRNA vaccine works by encoding a portion of the spike protein found on the surface of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains.

The vaccines actually use pieces of the encoded protein to spark an immune response in your body. As a result, your body produces antibodies to SARS-CoV-2—proteins made by your immune system to help fend off future illnesses by the virus. Once your body creates that immune response, both the protein and mRNA are eliminated, while the antibodies stick around to protect you in the future.

According to Pfizer, these mRNA vaccines are different from conventional vaccines (like the flu vaccine) in that most conventional vaccines against viral disease are made from viruses grown in chicken eggs or other mammalian cells. No virus is needed to make a batch of an mRNA vaccine (though a small amount of the virus is used for gene sequencing and vaccine testing).

The body also responds to conventional vaccines versus mRNA vaccines in a slightly different way. With conventional vaccines, the antigen, or a piece of the virus, is injected into the body to form specific antibodies for the next time the body encounters that specific virus. However, in mRNA vaccines, the RNA provides instructions to the body's cells to produce antigens. Those cells then present the antigens to the body's immune system, prompting T-cell and antibody responses to fight the disease.

So when these vaccines became available about a year after the pandemic began, both my wife and I were vaccinated using these two vaccines. I had the Moderna and my wife had the Pfizer.

But there was one problem with the vaccines. COVID was changing so fast from one variant to another that it was difficult to keep up. The vaccines were designed for the dominant variant at the time, but it took over 6 months before it was approved and by the time a person actually received their shots, the virus had moved onto a dozen or more new variants crowding the dominant variant. They offered protection but just not perfect protection because the virus was always on the move.

So back to CHINA. Many countries joined the drive to develop vaccines. Some provided limited protection but some were next to worthless. I suspect that many in China were never vaccinated or were vaccinated with vaccines that provided minimal protection. As a result at this time China elderly and immune deficient population are succumbing to COVID at the moment. I suspect that if the Chinese elderly population received either the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine at the moment, their chance of survival would be greatly improved.

It is A Perfect Storm.

I remembered one last point when it comes to using vaccines. When you get a vaccine, the effect does not start immediately but builds in time. It gets to full efficiency two weeks after receiving the vaccine.

Residents in Beijing, Northeast China Report New Highs in Pneumonia-Related Deaths

Residents in Beijing and northeast China have reported observing what appears to be a new high in pneumonia-related deaths amid severe cold as the latest wave of respiratory illness continues to swept the country.

Peng Zhibin, director of the Respiratory Infectious Diseases Office of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a press briefing held by the National Health Commission on Dec. 24 that the current acute respiratory diseases in China are dominated by the influenza viruses, with other pathogens circulating at the same time, such as mycoplasma pneumonia, adenovirus, and respiratory syncytial virus. He said that influenza is now being seen at a high level.

This wave of pneumonia started to be noticed spreading in China in September mostly among children. It then spiked upwards in mid-October, and worsened further in November, spreading to other age groups while continuing to sweep across the country. The CCP has attributed the outbreak to cross-infections of influenza, mycoplasma pneumonia, respiratory syncytial virus, rhinovirus, and other respiratory infections, while avoiding mention and downplaying COVID-19.

Recently, there have been increased reports of sudden deaths among young and middle-aged people in mainland China amid the raging pneumonia outbreak

Some Beijing residents revealed that this wave of the pneumonia has been very serious, with funeral homes in Beijing facing a surge in deaths, and sudden deaths among young people being commonly reported.

Mr. Li, a Beijing citizen - - - “From the end of November to the beginning of December this year, there was a small peak in all funeral homes in Beijing. Quite a number of people died in my district,” he added."

Mr. Li revealed that many people died suddenly during this period, which was particularly abnormal. “Many young people in their thirties suddenly fell to the ground and died. This situation is particularly prominent. A young man in my work place, who was very healthy and active, actively participated in outdoor activities, had no physical problems, suddenly died at work at the end of last month.”

China’s northeast regions continue to experience record low temperatures and heavy snowfall. In recent weeks, the lowest temperature in Shenyang city, Liaoning province, has reached minus 26 degrees Celsius (-14.8 degrees F).

A netizen in Changchun city, Jilin Province, posted: “It’s more than 20 degrees below zero in Changchun, so cold! Everyone around me is getting sick. I got home and started to have a sore throat, and having a cold is so unbearable.”

Residents in northeast China revealed that many people died suddenly and they have seen corpses being transported to the crematoriums every day.

(These regions of China are experiencing record cold temperatures. This is a factor in creating The Perfect Storm. This means the residents are heating their homes which is driving down internal humidity levels to record lows. In my opinion, this is adding to the crisis because it is spread very dramatically when indoor humidity levels fall between 0 and 10 percent.)

He also described lots of sudden deaths. “Every day when I walk on the street, I can see hearses taking people to the crematoriums. These vehicles move very slowly, and while they are driving, they throw paper offerings [for the dead] on the road.”

Bacterial pneumonia was the cause of 43% of unexpected infectious deaths.

Pneumonia Linked With 43% of Unexpected Infectious Deaths in Study

So China is inside The Perfect Storm. If I was inside China what would I do, what would jimmy m. do?

I would control my indoor humidity levels. Ideally indoor humidity should be within 40 to 60 percent. So indoor humidity should be above 40% during the cold winter months. But the threat grows very dynamically the closer you get to 0%. So if I was able to keep the indoor humidity level above 10%, it would begin to bring The Perfect Storm under control.

So what does one need to do this. Well it is nice to have a means of measuring indoor humidity levels. I would use a Thermometer, Humidity Monitor, Barometer. There are many of these on the market. This is one example:



Wittime 2076 Weather Station

This device measures my indoor and outdoor humidity level in my home. These types of devices are inexpensive and readily available on the market. This device will tell me if I am approaching The Perfect Storm.

If humidity levels are too low, I can correct the problem indoors by using a humidifier. There are thousands of different types of this device available in the stores.



This youtube video shows the one I use to add humidity to my home. It keeps the humidity level in my home at safe levels.

Maintaining indoor air humidity levels near the 40% to 60% safe range is a key component in the 4 steps approach needed to keep safe from COVID and also in my humble opinion the Antibiotic Resistance Mycoplasma Pneumoniae Pneumoni.

Antibiotic Treatment and Resistance

Antibiotic treatment

Most Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections are self-limiting; however, clinicians routinely treat pneumonia caused by M. pneumoniae with antibiotics. All mycoplasmas lack a cell wall and, therefore, all are inherently resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics (e.g., penicillin).

Clinicians treat the disease with macrolide, tetracycline, or fluoroquinolone classes of antibiotics, taking age of the patient and local antibiotic resistance patterns into consideration:

-- Macrolides (e.g., azithromycin): Children and adults
-- Tetracyclines (e.g., doxycycline): Older children and adults
-- Fluoroquinolones: Adults

Clinicians should not prescribe tetracyclines and fluoroquinolones for young children under normal circumstances. Macrolides are generally considered the treatment of choice. However, clinicians should practice prudent use of macrolide drugs due to the emergence of macrolide-resistant strains of M. pneumoniae.

Antibiotic resistance

Resistance to macrolides has been emerging in M. pneumoniae since the 2000s. This issue is especially troubling in Asia, where resistance rates have been as high as 90%. The United States and Europe have also reported macrolide resistance. Current data suggest that the prevalence of macrolide resistance in M. pneumoniae may be around 10% in the United States, with regional variability.

Studies have reported that patients with infections due to macrolide-resistant strains may have fever and cough for a longer duration than patients infected with macrolide-sensitive strains.

Experts need to learn more about the extent of macrolide resistance and its clinical implications to inform prescribing decisions.

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This article has been updated as follows:
Possible Increase in Mycoplasma pneumoniae Infections, 2023

Well that is the state where we are at right now in China. They have experienced and are experiencing Antibiotic Resistant Mycoplasma Pneumoniae Pneumonia and China is hiding the death of their young ones from the world.

Another recent article states:

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a leading cause of bacterial community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children and young adults, accounting for approximately 40% of all CAP cases in this age group, with up to 18% of these individuals requiring hospitalization. Macrolides are the first-line therapy and are widely used for M. pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP). Since the first reports of widespread macrolide-resistant M. pneumoniae (MRMP) appeared in Japan in the early 2000s, subsequently spreading through Asia and eventually to Europe and North America, macrolide-resistance has significantly increased worldwide, resulting in refractory cases with severe and complicated clinical features that necessitate immunomodulating therapy. Asia, including China, Japan, and Korea, has shown a much higher macrolide resistance rate, ranging from 60 to 90% and over 90% to 100% in some regions or periods compared with Europe, where prevalence is substantially lower at 1% to 30% varying from country to country.

Source: Characteristics of the Mycoplasma pneumoniae Epidemic from 2019 to 2020 in Korea: Macrolide Resistance and Co-Infection Trends
Antibiotics 2023, 12(11), 1623; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12111623
Published: 13 November 2023