Health

Doctors' warning as cases of HMPV virus ravaging China double in the US

January, 07, 2025-01:45

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Doctors' warning as cases of HMPV virus ravaging China double in the US:

Western experts have publicly called on China to be more transparent about a viral outbreak overwhelming its hospitals — as data shows the virus is growing in the US. Beijing is yet to comment on footage of overcrowded waiting rooms and wards posted on social media or reports of crematoriums and funeral homes overflowing with bodies. It is thought China's outbreak is being fueled by the relatively unknown virus human metapneumovirus (HPMV), which normally causes cold-like symptoms such as a blocked nose, headache, shivering and tiredness.

Dr Sanjaya Senanayake, infectious disease expert associate professor of medicine at The Australian National University, said it was 'vital for China to share its data on this outbreak in a timely manner', including 'data about who is getting infected.'
He added: 'Also, we will need genomic data confirming that HMPV is the culprit, and that there aren't any significant mutations of concern. Such genomic data will also guide vaccine development.' The silence from China has led some to fear there are similarities with the current situation and the Covid outbreak in 2019, which was initially played down by Beijing.

Their warning comes as the US experiences its own increase in HMPV cases, with positive test percentages doubling from the beginning to the end of December. According to the latest CDC data, just under 300 positive test results reported during the last week of December, the latest figures available. The above CDC graph shows an increase in positive HMPV tests at the end of December 2024 HMPV first emerged in 2001 and typically causes symptoms of a common cold. But more severe symptoms such as bronchitis, bronchiolitis and pneumonia can occur, with sufferers experiencing a shortness of breath, severe cough or wheezing. Children, the elderly and immunocompromised patients are at the highest risk of severe complications.
Because the virus is usually mild, its exact death rate is unknown. But experts estimate anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of patients hospitalized with HMPV die in the US.

Experts have cautioned that HMPV, which produces flu-like symptoms, can lurk in the body for days and so it can be easily passed on to others. Professor Jill Carr, a virologist in the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University in Australia, cautioned the current outbreak in China was not likely to cause a global crisis. She said: 'This is very different to the COVID-19 pandemic, where the virus was completely new in humans and arose from a spill-over from animals and spread to pandemic levels because there was no prior exposures or protective immunity in the community. 'The scientific community also has some understanding of the genetic diversity and epidemiology of HPMV, the kind of impact the virus has on the lungs and established laboratory testing methods - again, very different to the COVID-19 pandemic, where a new lung disease was seen, there was little information on how the virus may vary and spread and we had no initial diagnostic tests.' Andrew Easton, a virology professor at the University of Warwick in the UK, told Live Science: 'HMPV has been recognized as a significant problem in the at-risk population across the world since the turn of the century when it was first discovered.