What is HMPV, the cold-like virus circulating in China?

By Cynthia McCormick Hibbert

Not many people had heard of human metapneumovirus, or HPMV, until a surge of recent cases in China made headlines.

In actuality, the seasonal virus is so common that most people, including U.S. residents, have had HPMV without knowing it, Northeastern health experts say.

“It’s a respiratory illness that can cause common cold symptoms like cough, runny nose and sore throat,” says pharmacy professor Brandon Dionne

“It’s a common virus that’s been part of the normal respiratory viral season for years,” he says. “It  follows the same kind of pattern as our other respiratory viral infections like RSV and flu.”

“This is not something new,” says Neil Maniar, director of Northeastern’s master of public health program. “It’s not the next COVID-like pandemic or anything like that.”

“The data suggest that by the time you are 5 or 6 years old, pretty much everybody’s had it (HMPV),” says Samuel Scarpino, an epidemiologist and Northeastern professor of the practice in health sciences and computer sciences.

Continue reading at Northeastern Global News.