BEIJING: News reports and social media posts are warning of an outbreak of a little-known virus called human metapneumovirus (HMPV) in China, but officials have yet to confirm it.
Instead, official reports from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention show that the rates of several flu-like diseases in China are on the rise, according to data up to the last week of 2024.
The data shows that influenza is leading the outbreak, with 30.2 percent testing positive for it—up 6.2 from the previous week—and 17.7 percent of people hospitalized with severe respiratory illness. are admitted who are testing positive for it. However, the same data set indicates that the rate of HMPV surpasses that of other flu-like diseases — such as COVID-19, rhinovirus and adenovirus — accounting for 6.2 percent of positive respiratory disease tests and 5.4 percent of respiratory infections in China. Diseases are associated with hospitalizations.
Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a virus that can cause a flu-like illness in people of all ages, although some people are at greater risk, including young children, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems. This virus was discovered as recently as 2001, but it is in the same family as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), another flu-like virus. The more widespread use of testing for specific viruses in people with flu-like symptoms has led to increased awareness of HMPV as an important cause of respiratory illnesses.
Like other similar viruses, HMPV is usually spread by droplets from coughing and sneezing, by human contact such as hugging or kissing, and by touching surfaces and objects contaminated with the virus and then through the mouth, nose, or eyes. .
In the US, HMPV circulates seasonally with flu and similar illnesses, and is most active in late winter and spring.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends several ways Americans can protect themselves from the virus: washing hands frequently with soap and water, avoiding touching your face with unwashed hands, and avoiding close contact with sick people. Avoiding contact. People with flu-like symptoms are advised to cover their mouths when coughing or sneezing, wash their hands frequently with soap and water, avoid sharing cups and cutlery with others, avoid kissing others and recover. Stay home for Symptoms of HMPV are similar to other flu-like illnesses, including cough, fever and stuffy or runny nose. In some cases, sick people may have trouble breathing and it can progress to bronchitis — inflammation of the lung airways — or pneumonia: inflammation of the lungs themselves. The length of the illness depends on the severity of the sick person’s symptoms, but is usually comparable to the flu. Because HMPV is a relatively recently identified virus, there is no specific treatment available and no vaccine available. People with HMPV are advised to treat it like the flu and stay at home while the body fights the infection. Currently, there is not enough information from reliable sources about the extent and severity of potential HMPV outbreaks in China to accurately predict the risk of a pandemic. However, this is a virus that is already circulating in populations in China, the US and elsewhere, so the herd immunity against it is much higher than that of new strains like COVID-19 at the start of a pandemic. It will be against the virus.