“May be dangerous for infants and the elderly”: Rospotrebnadzor is monitoring the situation with cases of metapneumovirus in China

Rospotrebnadzor announced monitoring the situation with the incidence of metapneumovirus in China. As the department stated, we are talking about a virus that usually causes acute respiratory infections, including bronchiolitis and pneumonia. It is spread through the air and can be especially dangerous for infants, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems. Meanwhile, experts point out that there are no prerequisites for an epidemic that will be accompanied by serious illnesses.

Rospotrebnadzor is monitoring the situation with the growing incidence of metapneumovirus in China, the agency said in a statement.

“Respiratory samples collected from hospitals between December 23 and December 29 have reportedly tested positive for influenza virus, human metapneumovirus and rhinovirus. The study showed that acute respiratory infections are currently actively spreading within the country,” Rospotrebnadzor said in a statement published on January 5.

The department recalled that we are talking about a virus that most often causes acute respiratory infections, including bronchiolitis and pneumonia. It is noted that it can be especially dangerous for infants, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.

“The infection may include a runny nose, cough, fever, difficulty breathing and other symptoms typical of respiratory illnesses. The virus is transmitted by airborne droplets,” explained Rospotrebnadzor.

At the same time, it is noted that there is no specific treatment for metapneumovirus infections. As a rule, we are talking about symptomatic treatment aimed at alleviating symptoms.

In a conversation with RT, experts expressed the opinion that there is no reason to believe that the metapneumovirus in China will cause an epidemic. This point of view, in particular, was expressed by a virologist, Doctor of Medical Sciences and chief researcher at the Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology named after N.F. Gamaleya Anatoly Altshtein.

“Metapneumoviruses belong to the pneumovirus family. This family is close to the paramyxoviruses, well known to virologists. The family is close, but now different, because the classification has changed a little. Since the 50s, human sera that have been collected over many years have everywhere contained antibodies to this metapneumovirus. Every year in winter, and sometimes in spring, there are such outbreaks. There is no reason to fear that it will cause an epidemic of serious diseases,” said RT’s interlocutor.

He also added that the disease is “mostly mild,” but the virus can be dangerous for the elderly, infants and people with immunocompromise.

“But he does not have a widespread and high severity of the disease. This is not a coronavirus, and we do not expect an epidemic like with coronavirus or influenza,” Altstein concluded.

Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Virology, Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosova Olga Karpova also told RT that the metapneumovirus has been known since the 50s of the last century.

“This is a respiratory virus. In fact, I still don’t really understand why there is such panic. Because, in general, they dealt with it quite successfully,” said RT’s interlocutor.

However, she emphasized the importance of not adding a bacterial component to the course of the disease.

“So that all this does not turn into pneumonia of a bacterial nature. This is something you definitely need to pay attention to,” Karpova explained.

The virologist said that this virus has a genome, which is represented by one RNA molecule.

“The flu is 8 RNA molecules, and they are all mixed up. That’s why new strains arise and we have regular epidemics. And once every 20 years there are pandemics, when genome segments from different species are mixed. Birds and humans, for example. This can’t happen here,” the specialist said.

She stressed that there cannot be “crazy variability” like the influenza virus in the case of metapneumovirus, which is “good news.”