Recently, China has informed the world about the Human Metapneumovirus that is spreading fast in the region, leading to severe health issues in the country.
The National Institute of Health (NIH) claimed that the HMPV prevalent in China nowadays has been present in Pakistan since 2001.
The symptoms of HMPV are also seen in India within two infants.

On Monday, the Union Health Ministry stated that in India, the symptoms of HMPV are seen in 2 infants. These infants didn’t travel to China or any other country before as they were newly born. One is a 3-month-old girl, while the other is an eight-month-old boy. The reports said that the infants were admitted to the Baptist hospital in Bengaluru.

The three-month-old girl, after medical treatment, left the hospital while the boy was still in recovery. It is also noted that these infants had a history of bronchopneumonia. The Union Health Ministry said that HMPV is spreading globally, first in China and now in India. It also highlighted that there were no such severe cases of respiratory illness or influenza like illness in India. However, the Health Ministry in India assures regular checking of the cases throughout the year.

It is noticed that HMPV is not as severe as COVID-19, but the disease causes severe cold-like symptoms that are fatal for young individuals and persons having a weak immune system.

Pakistan’s National Institute of Health notified earlier that the symptoms of HMPV were already seen in Pakistan nearly a decade ago. The NIH claimed that the first ever cases having symptoms like HMPV were seen in 2001. In 2015, 21 cases were seen in Islamabad PIMS hospital.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) claimed that nearly 10-12% of respiratory illnesses are caused by this virus in children, leading to minute severe respiratory illnesses like Pneumonia.

People are treating HMPV as COVID-19 due to similar symptoms like cough, sore throat, congestion and all. But it should be in notice to everyone that COVID-19 and HMPV are totally different. HMPV, however, only occurs in spring and winter, while COVID-19 does not have such an occurrence. The only similarity is that both affect the respiratory system majorly.