The HMPV outbreak is currently overwhelming hospitals in China but Beijing says respiratory infections are “less severe” and “smaller in scale” compared to last year
The HMPV virus outbreak is not as severe as the COVID-19 pandemic, an expert has today warned.
Professor Jill Carr, a virologist, has reassured people the current outbreak of HMPV in China is not likely to cause a global crisis. The virus causes cold-like symptoms including a cough, fever and a runny or blocked nose and, like Covid, it’s spread through droplet particles in the air, either from coughing or sneezing, or left on surfaces.
Photos show overcrowded waiting rooms and wards in hospitals across China, but Beijing has downplayed these images. It says respiratory infections are “less severe” and “smaller in scale” compared to last year.
And Prof Carr, a virologist in the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, 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 HMPV, 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.”
Experts across the globe are monitoring the situation, as data from the UK also shows a surge in HMPV cases in recent weeks. According to virus monitoring data from the UK Health Security Agency, as of December 23, ten per cent of children tested for respiratory infections in hospitals were found to be positive for HMPV.
And while cases have been recorded in Australia, medics say it currently poses no immediate threat. It is summertime there, so outdoor lifestyles and ventilated homes will limit the spread of all respiratory infections, including HMPV.
Unlike COVID, HMPV is not a new virus to humans, with the first case of a human infection reported in 2001 in the Netherlands. Virologists say the world is far more prepared to combat HMPV as a result.
Symptoms, though, include a cough, fever, nasal congestion and fatigue, with some also experiencing a rash, shortness of breath or a sore throat. While not part of standard healthcare tests, swab and PCR tests can diagnose HMPV.
