In recent days, videos, photographs and fake news about a supposed new epidemic outbreak known as Human Metapneumovirus or HMPV began to circulate on social networks. The rapid spread on the Internet, as well as the publication of alleged media pages, have raised alarm in Nicaragua and several countries in the region.
On networks, there are videos in which they affirm that in recent days in China people are falling dead in the streets, looting, road closures, apocalyptic evacuations and the return of the mandatory use of masks, all of the above is far from reality .
Although HMPV exists, it is not a new virus, much less highly deadly. Neither the government of China, nor other countries in Asia, much less the World Health Organization (WHO), have issued health alerts about a new virus or about an epidemic caused by HMPV.
So where does the news come from?
At the end of December 2024, Chinese authorities, specifically the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, presented a routine quarterly report in which they mention a slight increase in infections due to acute respiratory diseases, especially due to a virus. RNA, the human metapneumovirus.
The slight increase in cases, according to Chinese authorities, is typical of the season of the year; However, they declared surveillance of the cases as the incidence was higher in adolescents. The Asian health authority, within the report, does not mention any alerts or fatal cases due to the stationary virus.
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The virus, which is considered a mild respiratory infection, similar to a cold, created some panic in the Asian population that went to medical centers; However, according to the same report, HMPV, although there is no vaccine for the infection, is disintegrated by the body automatically in a matter of days, so it does not even require hospitalization.
What is HMVP?
Metapneumovirus or HMPV is a respiratory condition similar to other diseases of this nature caused by a virus that is easy to spread, especially in children under five years of age, adults over 65 years of age and older, and immunosuppressed people. The disease has similarities with other illnesses such as the common cold.
Like the flu and other respiratory diseases such as Covid-19, it is transmitted through contact with surfaces contaminated with secretions. HMPV normally affects the upper respiratory tract; However, in children, the elderly and chronically ill it can spread to the lower respiratory tract.
The virus, discovered in 2001 in the Netherlands, has an incubation period of nine days, and usually passes naturally from the body.
What are the symptoms of Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV)?
- High fever, usually above 38 degrees Celsius
- Cough
- Inflammation of the organs of the respiratory system and in some cases, the skin.
- Sore throat
- Wheezing
- Nasal congestion
In Nicaragua, the government has not issued any information about the virus, nor is there a record of the presence of the respiratory disease. Guatemala is the only Central American country that experienced an HMPV outbreak in previous years; According to the report from the Guatemalan authorities, hospitalization records are mostly for minors and there were few deaths.
Medical experts recommend that the population not panic due to the viralization of alarming news and wait for official information and instructions from the World Health Organization and national health authorities and pay attention to official media.
