Is this the start of a new pandemic? As HMPV spreads as China, PAT HAGAN reveals all you need to know about the 'mystery' illness
Daily MailThe scenes are eerily familiar – crowded hospitals in China overrun by masked patients seeking medical help as infection tears through the population. HMPV belongs to the same family of infectious bugs as respiratory syncytial virus, which is already a common source of the lung infection bronchiolitis during winter – hospitalising around 30,000 children and 18,000 adults in the UK every year. A hospital waiting room in Hangzhou, China is pictured Experts have cautioned that HMPV, which produces flu-like symptoms, can lurk in the body for days and so it can be easily passed on to others You may not have heard of it because it is just one of many viruses known to cause cold and flu symptoms in the UK every year. A child wearing a face shield is held by an adult as they wait to be seen by medical staff at a hospital in Hangzhou, China In much the same way as other cold, flu or Covid viruses – HMPV is largely airborne and moves from one person to another through inhaling contaminated droplets 'While HMPV does mutate over time, with new strains emerging, it is not a virus that we consider to have pandemic potential,' says Dr Andrew Catchpole, chief scientific officer at HVIVO, an independent research body based in the UK that helps develop vaccines against infectious diseases. In much the same way as other cold, flu or Covid viruses – it's largely airborne and moves from one person to another through inhaling contaminated droplets.