The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is communicating with health officials in China as fears grow over an outbreak of infectious respiratory diseases that has caused clusters of pneumonia among children in the north of the country.

David Daigle, a spokesperson for the federal agency, told Newsweek that it would "continue to monitor the situation, collaborating with global health partners" over the increase in illness, and was "in touch with local health authorities and its country office in China."

The U.S. CDC has collaborated with its Chinese counterpart for over 30 years on a range of diseases that circulate among the global population, including influenza and tuberculosis.

Concerns were raised by the World Health Organization (WHO) last week that China was not sharing adequate information with the international community about the rise in respiratory illnesses, which had been reported in the media and on a global outbreak surveillance system—something it was previously criticized for in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.