A Familiar Virus Caught in the Spotlight

Amid rising concern around HMPV cases in India, several state governments have issued guidelines & raised surveillance with experts maintaining that it is good to take precautions & be cautious but there is no need to panic

- 

Cases of a common respiratory virus called human metapneumovirus or HMPV are surging in several Asian countries, but experts opine that the situation shouldn't trigger fears of a larger global health threat.

In mid-December last year, health agencies in China reported an overall increase in respiratory infections, including an HMPV uptick in children under 14 years old in northern China. Reports of a hospital allegedly flooded with cases further fueled alarm and attention to this lesser-known yet common winter respiratory disease.

HMPV falls into the same mix of winter bugs as influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which often peak during this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere. Common HMPV symptoms, such as a runny nose, coughing, and fever, are typically mild. Young children, older adults, and people who are immunocompromised may be at a higher risk of severe disease, however.

China's relatively large case count has prompted the nation and nearby countries to increase surveillance. Cases have also been detected in Malaysia, India, and Kazakhstan. Experts note that HMPV has been occurring in humans around the world for decades.

“The virus has circulated for at least 60 years, and genetic evolutionary studies suggest that it diverged from a bird virus between 200 to 400 years ago,” John Williams, a pediatrician and infectious diseases professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who has studied HMPV for more than 20 years, has been quoted as saying.

Fears of a COVID-19-style pandemic are overblown, experts have said, noting that pandemics are typically caused by novel pathogens, which is not the case for HMPV.

The virus is globally present and has been around for decades. This means people across the and they pass more easily from one person to another as people stay indoors more often.

In northern China, the current HMPV spike coincides with low temperatures that are expected to last until March.