China is facing the outbreak of a little-known virus, local news reports warn. Videos on social media appear to show hospitals being overwhelmed with patients.
Everything would revolve around HMPV, or the so-called human metapneumovirus. Although Chinese authorities have not yet confirmed the outbreak, official reports from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention indicate an increase in the number of flu-like illnesses. These data show, among other things, that most positive tests are about influenza, but that the percentage of HMPV is higher than that of other diseases such as Covid-19, the rhinovirus and the adenovirus. HMPV already accounts for 6.2 percent of positive tests for respiratory diseases and 5.4 percent of hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases in China.
What is it?
The human metapneumovirus is a virus that can cause flu-like symptoms such as coughing, fever and a stuffy or runny nose in people of all ages. In some cases, people may experience shortness of breath, which can lead to bronchitis or pneumonia. Young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems are more at risk.
The virus was only discovered in 2001, but is in the same family as respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. Like similar viruses, HMPV usually spreads from person to person through ‘droplets’ released when coughing or sneezing, through human contact such as hugging or kissing, and through touching surfaces and objects contaminated with the virus. You can protect yourself against it in the now known ways, such as regularly washing your hands with soap and water and avoiding close contact with sick people.
Pandemic
Because HMPV is a relatively recently discovered virus, there is no specific treatment or vaccine for it yet. Infected people are advised to treat the virus like the flu and stay at home while the body fights the infection.
There is currently not enough information available from reliable sources on the extent and severity of the HMPV outbreak in China to predict the risk of a pandemic. However, this is a virus that is already circulating, which means that there is already more group immunity than was the case a few years ago with the “new” Covid-19.