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US sees surge in HMPV cases, doctors warn against ‘bad flu’ season as CDC ‘monitoring’ situation in China
The United States witnesses a rise in HMPV cases, with positive test rates doubling between the start of December and the end of the month.
HMPV in US: As new data indicates that the HMPV virus is spreading in the US, Western specialists have openly urged China to be more open about an outbreak of influenza that is rampaging across its hospitals.
Beijing claims that respiratory ailments are “less severe” and “smaller in scale” than they were in 2024, downplaying social media pictures of congested wards and waiting areas.
The pictures and videos on social media have raised worries among people that there are parallels between the relatively unknown virus human metapneumovirus (HMPV) and the 2019 COVID outbreak, which was first reported in China.
The cold-like symptoms of virus include headaches, chills, fatigue, and clogged noses.
The Australian National University's associate professor of medicine, Dr. Sanjaya Senanayake, who is an expert in infectious diseases, stated that it was “vital for China to share its data on this outbreak in a timely manner,” including “data about who is getting infected.”
In addition, he said that they will be require genetic data to verify that HMPV is the causative agent and that no significant mutations that are worrying are present. Genomic data would further assist in creation of vaccines, Senanayake added.
US sees increase in HMPV cases
Their caution from the doctors and experts come as the United States witnesses a rise in HMPV cases, with positive test rates doubling between the start of December and the end of the month.
Less than 300 positive test results were recorded in the final week of December, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
While the CDC is “monitoring” the instances in China, it said that the current cases are “not currently a cause for concern in the US.”
Dr. Andrew Catchpole, the infectious disease biotech company hVIVO's chief scientific officer, stated that hMPV is usually reported during the winter season in the several countries, but it appears the “rates of serious infection may be higher in China than what we would expect in a normal year.”
Meanwhile, the CDC's National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS) database shows that the number of HMPV cases in the US is higher than the last year.
The data from the last week of December shows a test positivity rate of 1.9%.
Nearly 300 cases have been confirmed out of 13,800 tests that were conducted last week.
