Not a new virus
Interviewed by CBS News, Dr. Carla Garcia Carreno, director of infection prevention and control at Children’s Medical Center in Plano (Texas), rules out any risk of a pandemic. Unlike Covid-19, HMPV is not new. “It’s been circulating for a while. People have some immunity to this human metapneumovirus,” she explains.
In fact, the virus has been circulating for at least 65 years! It was first identified in 2001, in children affected by unexplained respiratory infections. At the time, researchers believed that this new virus was “related to avian metapneumovirus type C.” It appeared because of a mutation, passing from birds to humans.
Being seasonal, the human metapneumovirus experiences winter peaks. Rumors of a “new Chinese virus” are therefore unfounded, undoubtedly linked to the five-year anniversary of Covid.
Who can be infected with the virus?
Human metapneumovirus is a respiratory virus. It is responsible for upper and lower respiratory tract infections in people of all ages, but mainly affects infants, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems, says the Canadian Hospital in Ottawa.
How do you get infected with HMPV?
It is spread by droplets thrown into the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. The infection can also be spread through direct contact with secretions from the nose or throat of an infected person.
What are the symptoms?
HMPV can cause severe respiratory illness in babies and the elderly. In other age groups, it mainly resembles a simple cold.
The symptoms of human metapneumovirus are similar to those of the coronavirus and the flu: fever, runny or stuffy nose, cough, wheezing, throat pain or hoarse voice, muscle pain …
Barrier gestures
Unlike the flu or Covid, there is no vaccine against HMPV. The best way to protect yourself therefore remains the famous barrier gestures: washing your hands regularly, sneezing into your elbow or into a tissue and ventilating the rooms…
And in Belgium?
HMPV is also present in Belgium! But Karel Van Gucht, virologist at the Sciensano Institute of Public Health, nevertheless wants to reassure: the situation is under close monitoring in our country. “It’s something we’ve known about for a long time. It circulates every year and, this year, we know that 1 to 2% of patients who are hospitalized with a respiratory infection are in fact affected by this virus.”
