Mystery ‘pneumonia’ hits China’s Wuhan city; 27 hospitalised with 7 in serious condition

• Most patients worked at a seafood market and health workers are still trying to identify virus responsible.
• Seven patients in serious condition, while two are recovering and expected to leave hospital

Health authorities are looking into nearly 30 cases of "unknown pneumonia" in central China's Wuhan city on Tuesday.

State television reported that a team of experts from the National Health Commission had arrived in Wuhan to lead the investigation into the nature of the disease, while People's Daily, quoting local hospital sources, said the exact cause remained unclear and it would be premature to speculate.

Mainland media were alerted to the outbreak after a notice from the city health department went viral on social media on Monday night. The note instructed hospitals to report further cases, which led to some comparisons on social media with the outbreak of SARS, an acute respiratory illness which killed hundreds of people in China in the early 2000s.

Since the start of December, hospitals in the city have admitted 27 patients " most of them stall holders at the Huanan seafood market " with a viral pneumonia of unknown origin. Doctors are yet to identify which virus is to blame for the outbreak, People's Daily reported on Tuesday, citing Hubei provincial authorities.

The Wuhan health department said on Tuesday that seven of the patients were in a serious condition. Two people had nearly recovered and were about to leave hospital, according to the People's Daily report. The affected patients were in quarantine while testing of the virus and a disinfection programme were underway.

The department said the remaining patients were in stable condition.

It said initial investigations, which included clinical diagnosis and initial laboratory tests, suggested all 27 cases were of viral pneumonia, and so far no human-to-human infection had occurred, and no medical staff had contracted the disease. More pathological tests and probes into the cause of infection were continuing.

Several hospital sources in the city said it was more likely that another virus was responsible for the current cluster of cases, rather than SARS, which infected more than 5,300 people and killed 349 nationwide in China between late 2002 and mid-2003, according to the report.

State health authorities define "pneumonia of unknown cause" as cases where the patient suffers a fever higher than 38 degrees Celsius, has characteristics of pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome present in imaging findings, has a normal or lowering white blood cell level or a falling absolute lymphocyte count, with no improvement after three to five days of antibacterial treatment.

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