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While some countries in Asia and Europe faced an increase in respiratory infections due to the bacteria mycoplasma pneumoniae in November 2023, publications were shared more than 1,000 times on social networks claiming that it is an adverse effect of vaccines against covid-19. . But it’s false. Experts explained to AFP that the resurgence of the bacteria is due to the lifting of pandemic health measures and is not related to vaccination; Furthermore, it is not a lethal bacteria, since it can be treated.
“The pneumonia circulating in China is called mycoplasma pneumonia and is listed in Pfizer documents as ADVERSE EFFECT”, point out posts on Facebook (1, 2), TikTok y Xformerly Twitter.
The entries include a screenshot of a report in English about the alleged “later adverse effects” of the Pfizer covid-19 vaccine, among which the bacteria would be found.
Similar publications are disseminated in English y French.
Others Appetizer share the image of an x-ray and claim that mycoplasma pneumoniae, which they nickname “white lung syndrome”, is an adverse reaction to the vaccine and kills newborns who were infected because their mothers were vaccinated during pregnancy.
Screenshot of a post on X made on December 18, 2023
In November 2023 detected an increase in respiratory diseases, mainly pneumonia, in China and later in Europa. However, the World Health Organization ruled out that it was a new virus and health authorities explained that it was due to the circulation of known pathogens, such as the influenza virus or the bacteria mycoplasma pneumoniae.
However, the spread of the bacteria mycoplasma pneumoniae, which causes pneumonia, is not related to adverse effects caused by vaccination against covid-19 as stated in publications on social networks.
Decontextualized document
The AFP has already verified other publications that used the same trade to spread false claims.
It’s about a archive (page 36) published on November 17, 2021 on the website of Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency, a non-governmental organization that aims to make public the documents of the US drug agency (FDA) related to vaccines against covid-19.
The document available online has the Pfizer logo and contains a list of conditions that may be subject to erroneous interpretations, Aurélie Grandvuillemin, deputy director of the Regional Pharmacovigilance Center (CRPV) of the French region of the French region, explained to AFP in March 2022. Burgundy.
“This is in no way a list of reported adverse effects of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine [Cominarty]but a compilation of adverse events of special interest (…), of medical manifestations identified a priori as possibly associated with the administration of a vaccine and that will be subject to specific monitoring after the marketing of any vaccine, against covid or any other disease”, he clarified.
As mentioned in the methodology of the document (page 5)these data emanate from reports of adverse events “regardless of causality assessment with the vaccine”. The appearance of these, therefore, is not related to the injection.
These reports also indicate that these events may be due to “underlying diseases or one or more factors such as medical history and use of other drugs in parallel”.
The AFP contacted Pfizer France on December 7, 2023 and it explained that “To date, there is no data to suggest that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 causes microplasma pneumonia.”.
“It is important to remember that with hundreds of doses administered around the world, the benefit-risk profile of our covid-19 vaccine remains positive for all approved indications and age groups.“added the laboratory.
A health worker takes a swab sample to perform a Covid-19 test, in Beijing, China, on March 3, 2023 ( AFP / NOEL CELIS)
Resurgence of bacteria
Cécile Bébéarhead of the Bacteriology department at the Bordeaux University Hospital, clarified to AFP on December 5, 2023 that “there is no link [entre la bacteria] with covid vaccines”.
He agreed on this Camille Lochtresearch director of the National Institute for Research in Health and Medicine, at the Center for Infection and Immunity of Lille, interviewed on December 6: “To my knowledge, no study has established a link between the covid vaccine and the resurgence of mycoplasma pneumaniae”.
On November 13, the Chinese authorities reported an increase in respiratory diseases, mainly among children, which they attributed to the abandonment of anti-covid restrictions, the arrival of the cold season and the circulation of known pathogens, including the bacteria mycoplasma pneumoniae.
But the increase in respiratory infections in China is not only due to this bacteria, but also to numerous pathogens, including influenza, which is increasing considerably, reported the WHO at the end of November.
In other countries, such as France, this bacteria that causes respiratory infections circulates more “since early autumn”, with more cases than in the same period in 2022 but also in 2019, before covid-19, according to a first report of November 30 from the French Public Health Agency.
Other European countries have also recently reported increases in mycoplasma pneumoniae infections, such as Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway and Ireland, according to the same French Public Health report.
Unlike what the viral posts mention, this is not a “new virus“, but of a known bacteria by scientists for a long time.
After pneumococcus, it is the bacterial agent most frequently implicated in acute pneumonia. It often causes cough, fever, difficulty breathing, and is transmitted by droplets or close contact.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, this bacteria caused cyclical epidemic peaks approximately every three to seven years. The latest episodes date back to late 2019 and early 2020 in several countries, mainly in Europe and Asia.
Dr. Bébéar explained: “We were waiting for this return. It has been at least four years since there were mycoplasma pneumoniae infections and we were very surprised not to see this bacteria reappear, while viruses (flu, RSV…) and other bacterial infections had reappeared” post-covid.
“It is a bacteria that is probably less transmissible than other viruses, or even respiratory bacteria, and that multiplies slowly.“, accurate.
“This is not the first pathogen to return since covid“, adds the professor Paul Loubethead of the department of infectious and tropical diseases at the University Hospital of Nîmes, citing in particular the resurgence of invasive streptococcus A infections last winter or currently with meningococcal meningitis.
“These agents, viruses or bacteria, circulated very little when the health measures linked to covid were in force and collective immunity was lost.“, Add.
“It is an indirect effect of covid, it has nothing to do with vaccines, it is the implementation of distancing measures, use of masks, confinement, which caused all respiratory pathogens to decrease during this period”Professor Loubet explained.
But these pathogensThey did not disappear because their reservoir is human and they began to circulate again when the measures were lifted”he added.
Countries like France are currently going through “an epidemic situation“with more cases than in the same period of 2022 and 2019, according to Public Health of France, because even with health measures”The population may, in a period of two or three years, have lost its immunity. Even if you have already encountered the pathogen in the past, that is why we are seeing an increase in infections in different age groups”.
Image is not of a baby with mycoplasma pneumoniae
In the viral publications they also claim that the bacteria is related to the death of newborns whose mothers were vaccinated against covid-19. The entries show an image of a baby’s chest x-ray that supposedly shows that the child is suffering from “white lung syndrome” due to mycoplasma pneumoniae.
However, after a reverse search of the photo, it was detected that the image was published for the first time on X by Indian doctor Rajesh Parikh, on September 29, 2022, as part of a thread about a baby patient with a severe form of Covid-19.
According to Professor Loubet, “white lung syndrome” is not characteristic of mycoplasma infection.
“White lung is what we describe in chest images, x-rays or computed tomography and that reflects diffuse damage to the lung by various mechanisms that can be infectious causes (…) after a flu or covid we can have respiratory distress syndrome acute and in general we have completely white lungs in the images because they are damaged by the infection”, he commented.
Loubet concluded: “we cannot link a white lung to a particular pathogen”.
An American pediatrician explained on TikTok that a lot of fake news has been spread about an alleged epidemic of childhood pneumonia called “white lung syndrome“, but “It is not a medical term, it is a media term to create rumors”.
Bacteria that affects school-age children
Regarding the supposed mortality of newborns after mycoplasma infections, specialists consider it to be a dubious statement. Cécile Bébéar pointed out that mycoplasma pneumoniae “It almost does not affect children under two years of age, who suffer much more from bronchiolitis, it mainly affects children from six to 15 years old and possibly people from 25 to 49 years old.”.
This is also pointed out by Paul Loubet, although according to him “It can affect anyone, of any age. They are the people with the most social interactions, therefore children and adolescents at school and then young adults, who are most affected.”.
As they point out studies from the United States National Institutes of Health, although the bacteria can affect children and adults, “They are exceptional in children under one year of age and are more common between five and 15 years of age.”, in addition to the fact that they can occur at any time of the year.
Pediatrics Professor Archana Chatterjee describe on the medical site Medscape: “Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection is rare during the first year of life, but if it occurs in newborns it can cause severe respiratory distress.”.
In any case, even if the newborns were infected by the bacteria, “It would not be related to immunity to the vaccine”, says Bébéar.
In the vast majority of cases, mycoplasma pneumoniae infection manifests itself with mild symptoms of fever and cough.
Mycoplasma pneumoniae “easily treated with antibiotics“, the WHO stressed in a statement press release on respiratory infections in China. These are mainly macrolides, including azithromycin.
Dr. Bébéar declared to AFP on December 7, 2023 that as far as she knew “there were no deaths attributable to the current epidemic”.
References
2023-12-21 21:43:10
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