Virus you’ve never heard of infected record number of Americans this year — and it could explain why you kept testing negative for Covid and flu

daily mail ^

[algore]

A deadly virus that few people even know exists is causing misery across intensive care units and pediatric hospitals, doctors warn.

High rates of Covid, flu and even RSV during winter led to hospitals overflowing during winter during a situation dubbed a 'tripledemic'.

But cases of human metapneumovirus (HMPV), which can cause bronchitis and pneumonia, shot up to record levels in spring, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s respiratory virus surveillance systems.

It may partly explain why so many people tested negative for flu and Covid in recent months despite showing symptoms.

Dr John Williams, a pediatrician at the University of Pittsburgh who has spent his career researching vaccines and treatments for HMPV, said HMPV was 'the most important virus you've never heard of'.

This year in mid-March, 11 percent of tested cases were positive for HMPV. This is 36 percent higher than the average seasonal peak prior to the pandemic of seven percent.

Most patients who caught the virus probably did so unknowingly, as people are only tested for it in the hospital or emergency room.

Due to a lack of testing, the number who get infected or die from HMPV each year is not known, but test positivity — the swabs that are being tested — is on the rise.

There are no vaccines or drugs to treat HMPV.

It causes a cough, runny nose, sore throat and fever. In serious cases, patients may struggle to breathe, or suffer bronchitis or pneumonia.

As with the flu, babies and the elderly are most at risk because their immune systems are either still developing or deteriorating.

HMPV is spread by direct or close contact with an infected person, such as a cough, shaking hands, sneezing or touching infected objects or surfaces.

[Nifster]

You have no idea what I’ve read