The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it is monitoring an outbreak of human metapneumovirus (HMPV) in China but does not believe the disease is currently a concern for the United States.
In December, Chinese hospitals saw an increase in respiratory diseases, including influenza and HMPV, which put neighboring countries on alert.
In a statement emailed to The Epoch Times on Monday, a CDC spokesperson said the center is “aware of reported increases of HMPV in China and is in regular contact with international partners and monitoring reports of increased disease.”
The reports are “not currently a cause for concern” in the United States, the spokesperson said.
They added that the CDC is getting weekly reports from participating U.S. laboratories, and surveillance systems are expected to “rapidly detect any increase in HMPV cases” in the United States.
HMPV, a lesser-known common winter virus, was discovered in 2001.
According to the CDC, the virus can cause upper and lower respiratory disease in people of all ages, with young children, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems being particularly vulnerable.
As with other respiratory diseases, HMPV infections can cause symptoms including cough, fever, stuffy nose, and shortness of breath. In some cases, it may progress to bronchitis or pneumonia.
There is currently no vaccine for HMPV.
According to data from the CDC’s National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System, 1.94 percent of HMPV test results in the United States were positive in the last week of 2024.
In the past three years, the rate fluctuated between around 0.21 to 10.99 percent. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it dropped as low as 0.02 percent.
Increased Respiratory Infections
According to a report published on Dec. 27 by state-owned China Central Television (CCTV), data from the Chinese CDC showed increases in acute respiratory diseases, including influenza, mycoplasma pneumoniae, chlamydia pneumoniae, and infections of rhinovirus, human respiratory syncytial virus, and HMPV. One person may be infected with multiple viruses.
Among these, there was a surge of HMPV infections among children aged 14 and under, CCTV said.
On social media, parents from Wuhan, ground zero of the COVID-19 pandemic, said that many schoolchildren have taken ill.
On Jan. 2, a parent from Wuchang District in Wuhan told The Epoch Times that many students at her child’s school were infected with influenza viruses. Three third-grade classes had to suspend class, and her child’s fourth-grade class was also affected, with over 30 students taking sick leave before the New Year holiday.
Meanwhile, unverified posts appear to show packed hospitals with masked patients—scenes akin to those during the COVID-19 pandemic—leading to some fears of another epidemic.
Authorities in Hong Kong, Macau, and neighboring Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, and Japan are said to be monitoring the situation.
Speaking to NTD, an affiliate of The Epoch Times, Dr. Sean Lin, microbiologist and member of the Committee on the Present Danger: China, said there is no need to panic over HMPV, but the Chinese regime’s lack of transparency remains an issue.
“The problem is that the Chinese government didn’t provide systematic data for the outside world to understand what’s [the] real situation,” he said.
Lin said increased hospitalizations related to respiratory diseases in China could be connected to weakened immune systems in the Chinese population as a result of COVID-19 infections or the Chinese COVID-19 vaccines.
He added that the world should pay close attention to mutations of bird flu in China to watch out for new strains that could be more infectious to humans.
Cindy Li contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times