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Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a recently identified Paramyxovirus. It is first isolated from hospitalized children with acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI). It shows influenza like illnesses. In 2001, van den Hoogen et al described this new human viral pathogen from respiratory samples submitted for viral culture during the winter season.
When hMPV was first isolated, it was associated with symptoms of ARTI in infants and children similar to those seen in Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus (HRSV) infection. HMPV infection ranges in severity from self-limiting mild respiratory illness to respiratory failure requiring ventilation. Therefore, diagnosis of hMPV infection from other respiratory viruses may be impossible on clinical grounds alone. All the specimens were negative for other respiratory viruses and it was concluded that hMPV was likely to be the responsible pathogen. Experts in the field of pneumovirus infections agree that the pathophysiology of hMPV infection likely parallels that of RSV infection, including the absence of viremia.
Signs and symptoms:
- Rhinorrhoea
- Cough
- Dyspnea
- Tachypnoea
- Wheeze
- Vomiting
- Pharyngitis
- Chest wheeze with crackles
- Bilateral parahilar pneumonic infiltrates
- Bronchiolitis
The majority of children have been infected with hMPV by five years of age.
In addition, the virus impacts upon the elderly and the immunocompromised.
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