A new respiratory virus, HMPV, is making headlines as it spreads across China, overwhelming hospitals and prompting emergency measures. With schools shutting down and experts drawing comparisons to COVID-19, concerns are rising globally. What exactly is this virus, and how serious is the threat? Here’s what we know so far.
  • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    7 days ago

    China’s reported levels of respiratory infections are within the normal range… [HMPV is] not a new virus,” Harris said. “It was first identified in 2001. It’s been in the human population for a long time. It is a common virus that circulates in winter and spring.”

    Source

    • perestroika@lemm.eeEnglish
      0·
      7 days ago

      I will second that. I read about HMPV (human metapneumovirus) this autumn when one of my friends got it. It’s nothing fundamentally new. It’s poorly understood. Maybe it has a new and more capable strain.

      From Wikipedia:

      HMPV was responsible for 12% of cases of acute respiratory tract illness in otherwise-healthy children in a US outpatient clinic[2] and 15% and 8% of cases (respectively) of community-acquired pneumonia requiring hospitalization in children under and over the age of 5 in the United States in 2010–2012.

      So on some years, it’s pretty widespread. And like all viruses, it mutates to spread better and get past host defenses. I’m inclined to think that this virus has made some evolutionary advance. If the advance happened in China, the more capable or novel strain will spread out of China and bother others fairly soon. If the advance happened elsewhere, it will spread from elsewhere. But since it’s an old virus - not nearly as hard as COVID.

      There is certainly something going on with HMPV in China:

      In late 2024, human metapneumovirus was linked to 6.2 percent of positive respiratory illness tests and 5.4 percent of respiratory-illness hospitalizations in China, more than COVID-19, rhinovirus or adenovirus.[3][better source needed]

      (source)