HMPV in India: How to recognise Covid-like pandemic? Are we prepared for it? All you need to know

Reports of the spread of HMPV, or human metapneumovirus, in China have sparked concern around the world, with many fearing that this rapid transmission of the virus could lead to a Covid-19-like pandemic or similar “health emergency” .

Well, that’s a far-fetched hypothesis for now, according to health officials. HMPV, which causes respiratory diseases, is not a new virus. It was identified in the early 2000s.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a common respiratory virus which causes respiratory infections (such as colds and coughs). It is a seasonal illness that usually occurs in winter and early spring, similar to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza.

Earlier this week, Dr Atul Goel, Director General of Health Services, reassured the public that there is nothing alarming on the current situation. In the meantime, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said: “Respiratory infections tend to peak during the winter season. »

Besides China, cases of HMPV have also been reported in Malaysia. Two cases were also detected in KarnatakaIndia, according to the Ministry of Health press release published on Monday.

How to recognize a pandemic?

The definition of “pandemic” has been fluid throughout history. A pandemic is a step after an “epidemic” and an “epidemic”.

Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health defined an epidemic as “an increase in the number of cases of disease”. He said an epidemic is a continuous transmission of a disease without a clear outcome. Finally, it describes a pandemic as a situation in which there is sustained community-level transmission across two or more continents.

“The term pandemic refers to “the magnitude of cases of disease, not the severity of those cases,” Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health said in 2020.

Meanwhile, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) proposed eight characteristics of pandemics:

1. New: Unknown to the medical profession

2. Minimal population immunity: frequent absence of specific IgG antibodies

3. Explosiveness: Determined primarily by population size or density and factors related to the type of transmission, e.g. vector population.

4. Rapid disease movement: type and speed of human transmission

5. Wide geographical extension: social interaction of populations, widespread common source

6. Infectious power: ability of microbes to produce diseases (minimum infectious dose)

7. Contagiousness: Proportion of completely asymptomatic cases, super-spreaders and obvious and pathognomonic disease markers

8. Severity: need for hospitalization, artificial ventilation or intensive rehydration; chronicity or death

When should we be alarmed by the spread of a virus?

Experts explained a few factors to focus on when tracking the severity of the virus. The first is to check the severity of the morbidity. Another factor is symptom tracking, to find out if a particular virus is causing new symptoms of the disease. Other alarming factors could be an increase in hospitalizations and mortality from infections.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that the next pandemic will likely be caused by the flu.

Is the world ready for another pandemic?

“Yes and no,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said as the world marked the fifth anniversary of the first COVID-19 outbreak. He said: “If the next pandemic occurred today, the world would still face the same weaknesses and vulnerabilities that allowed COVID-19 to gain a foothold five years ago. »

In India, NITI Ayog released a report on “Future Pandemic Preparedness and Emergency Response – A Framework for Action”. This was a report from the expert group published in August 2024.

Can HMPV infection be serious?

When HMPV is concerned, the virus poses a significant risk, especially for vulnerable populations such as young children, the elderly, pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems.

According to MAX Healthcare, the recent outbreak of HMPV in China “has highlighted the potential severity of this virus, particularly among vulnerable groups.” Symptoms ranged from persistent cough and fever to more critical conditions such as bronchiolitis and pneumonia.