Beijing is experiencing a surge in cases of the flu-like human metapneumovirus (HMPV), raising concerns about a potential pandemic. While HMPV is not as severe as COVID-19, it can cause serious illness in young children and people with weakened immune systems.
Beijing has experienced a surge in flu-like HMPV cases, especially among children, which it attributed to a seasonal spike. In recent weeks, scenes of hospitals in China overrun with masked people have made their rounds on social media, sparking worries of another pandemic. Beijing has since acknowledged a surge in cases of the flu-like human metapneumovirus ( HMPV ), especially among children, and it attributed this to a seasonal spike.
But HMPV is not like Covid-19, public health experts have said, noting that the virus has been around for decades, with almost every child being infected by their fifth birthday. However, in some very young children and people with weakened immune systems, it can cause more serious illness. HMPV is a virus that will lead to a mild upper respiratory tract infection - practically indistinguishable from flu - for most people. First identified in the Netherlands in 2001, the virus spreads through direct contact between people or when someone touches surfaces contaminated with it. The very young, including children under two, are most vulnerable to the virus, along with those with weakened immune systems, including the elderly and those with advanced cancer, says Hsu Li Yang, an infectious diseases physician in Singapore. If infected, a 'small but significant proportion' among the immunocompromised will develop more severe disease where the lungs are affected, with wheezing, breathlessness and symptoms of croup. 'Many will require hospital care, with a smaller proportion at risk of dying from the infection,' Dr Hsu said. Like many respiratory infections, HMPV is most active during late winter and spring - some experts say this is because the viruses survive better in the cold and they pass more easily from one person to another as people stay indoors more often. In northern China, the current HMPV spike coincides with low temperatures that are expected to last until March
HMPV VIRUS HEALTH PANDEMIC CHINA
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