BEIJING, Mar. 31 -- A rare pediatric disease was found in Guangzhou, the Guangzhou Daily reported Wednesday, quoting sources from the Guangzhou Children's Hospital.

    The hospital said 10 cases of the rare disease had been found since 2002 and two children had died from it.

    The disease had symptoms similar to respiratory diseases, doctors from the hospital said.

    On March 27 this year, a 22-month-old baby was admitted to the hospital with breathing problems. After careful examination, doctors found a large amount of white fibrous material inside the child's windpipe and surgically removed it.

    The plastic-like white fibers were growing inside the windpipe and doctors could find no associated virus or bacteria.

    Doctors said immediate surgery was the only way to treat the disease as there was no effective medicine.

    The hospital said there were no reports of the disease elsewhere in China but doctors said similar cases had been reported in other countries.

    The hospital named the disease "plastic pneumonia" syndrome as it was the first hospital in China to report it.

    Doctors said children with the disease usually had kidney and cardiovascular problems.

    If not properly treated, children with the disease would have increasingly serious breathing problems, they warned. They believed the disease might have caused deaths in other hospitals if it had been treated as pneumonia.

    Doctors reminded parents to take care if they found their children suffering from similar symptoms.(Windy Shao)

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily)