United States: Recent reports gave information of an unknown respiratory virus in China five years after the first news of COVID, which would understandably spike concern.
More about the news
Chinese authorities began reporting human metapneumovirus (hMPV) in 2023, but reports from different media show that new cases might be on the rise during China’s winter season.
Most people infected with hMPV would show flu-like symptoms or symptoms similar to a cold. However, hMPV may result in severe disease in some instances. However, as experts note, it is not going to precipitate the next pandemic or the one after that.
History of hMPV
hMPV was first identified in a group of children in 2001 by Dutch researchers when other routine tests for the commonly recognized respiratory viruses were reported to be negative.
But it was likely around long before that. Cross-sectional samples of more recent times showed the presence of antibodies against this virus that infest humans, which has been prevalent for at least a few decades now, beginning from the 1950s, sciencealert.com reported.
The research was conducted after identifying hMPV in nearly all geographical areas of the world.
Pre-pandemic Australian data identified hMPV as the third most frequent virus among patients with respiratory symptoms in both the adult and pediatric populations.
Of all the cases identified and stratified by age, in adults, the most frequent were influenza and RSV in children, while children’s most frequent admission causes were RSV virus and parainfluenza.
WHO said it has not observed any unusual patterns in a recent pneumonia outbreak caused by HMPV in China, noting the recorded rise in respiratory pathogen detections is still within the expected range for the winter season.
— Tuoi Tre News (@VietNewsGateway) January 9, 2025
Read more: 👇👇👇
https://t.co/sqoaPGzdWb
Also similar to the flu, hMPV is a more severe disease in the younger and older populations.
All of these researches have established most kids are subjected to the virus at a tender age, with over 70 percent of kids by age five already having antibodies that point to early infection.
In general, it smoothens the severity of subsequent infections for older children, adolescents, and adults.
In young children, the most frequent clinical manifestation of hMPV is presenting symptoms, which include runny nose, sore throat, fever, and otitis media, sciencealert.com reported.
These symptoms typically fade within a couple of days to a week if the child and 1-2 weeks if the adult.