The new attention to HMPV – one of several germs that cause the common cold – is likely due to improving virus detection capabilities in China and other countries.
China’s winter disease season is less severe than the previous year, according to data from health authorities. But the proliferation of an old but little-known pathogen called human metapneumovirus (HMPV) has raised concerns both at home and in other countries.
Cases of hMPV are steadily increasing and the pathogen has been identified as a leading cause of respiratory illnesses and hospitalizations this winter, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said. Although not a new virus, hMPV also appears to vex governments across the region, with India, Malaysia and Hong Kong reporting cases in recent days.
Investigation
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Indonesia and Vietnam said they were closely monitoring the HMPV situation in China, asking the public not to panic.
The new attention to HMPV – one of many germs that cause the common cold – is likely due to improved virus detection capabilities in China and other countries following the Covid pandemic, during which governments spent millions on testing infrastructure and companies rushed to develop. better virus detection kits. And five years after SARS-CoV-2 placed the world on lockdown, outbreaks in China attract outsized attention and are often the subject of misleading social media posts.
In 2023, cases of pneumonia in Chinese children prompted the World Health Organization to ask Beijing to share information on circulating respiratory pathogens.
HMPV, first discovered in the Netherlands in 2001, has become much easier to detect and is one of a series of respiratory pathogens that commonly used test kits now detect.
Laboratory tests for pathogens, including hMPV, were time-consuming, with results often confirmed long after the patient had recovered. “Today’s tests can identify the virus causing infections within half an hour, so patients will discover it quickly and trigger more learning and attention,” said Hu Yang, a doctor at the China Pulmonary Hospital. Shanghai, to the National Business Daily last month.
Although HMPV can make people very ill, the current situation is “very different” from the Covid-19 pandemic which was completely new to humans, said Professor Jill Carr, a virologist at the Faculty of Medicine and Health. health. public health at Flinders University.
Its symptoms are mild in most cases and include cough, fever, runny nose and sore throat. There is no vaccine for the virus and it can cause pneumonia or even lead to hospitalization in high-risk groups like children, older people with chronic illnesses and patients receiving immunosuppressive treatments.
China will continue to see multiple pathogens fueling its winter illness outbreak through the spring, the country’s CDC said last month.
