On December 27, at a press conference on the State Council’s joint prevention and control mechanism, Jiao Yahui, Director General of the Medical Department of the National Health and Wellness Commission, made a response.
The current emergence of so-called “white lung” is not related to the original strain or vaccination.
The current predominant strain of the epidemic is still the Omicron strain.
He described white lung as a colloquial description of the imaging presentation of the lungs.
It does not mean that the lung tissue entity has turned white.
When there is inflammation or infection in the alveoli and the alveoli are filled with exudate and inflammatory cells, the rays from CT or X-rays do not penetrate and will appear as white areas on the imaging.
Not only the new coronavirus, but several pathogens such as respiratory syncytial virus, influenza virus and some bacteria can cause inflammation in the lungs.
In addition, he explained that white lung is a more serious manifestation of pneumonia.
Generally speaking, a white image area of 70-80% is called white lung.
At this stage, the patient will suffer from hypoxemia or respiratory distress.
Its main treatment options are prone position ventilation and oxygen administration therapy.
Intensive etiologic treatment of the primary disease improves in a significant proportion of patients with white lung.
The proportion of patients with white lung in clinical practice is very low.
Patients of advanced age combined with severe underlying disease are more likely to develop white lung.
It is important to enhance health monitoring of the elderly.
It is important to seek prompt medical attention when infections occur in the elderly especially if they turn serious such as respiratory distress.
For elderly patients with serious illnesses do not need to go through hierarchical treatment and referral, they should be referred directly to tertiary hospitals for consultation and treatment.
