India’s health ministry on Monday confirmed two cases of the human metapneumovirus, or HMPV, in Karnataka – two babies were found infected with the virus at a hospital in Bengaluru.

This comes weeks after China reported a surge in hospitalisation of children in its northern region due to the virus.

Doctors and experts Scroll spoke to advised against panicking about a Covid-19-like virus. They pointed out that the Bengaluru cases are not the “first cases” of the virus – as is being reported by several news channels.

The HMPV is not a new virus, they said, and is commonly reported within India. Both babies have no history of travelling abroad, which indicates that the cases are not linked with the surge in China, the health ministry has said.

The HMPV is also less lethal than the novel coronavirus that first spread five years ago in Wuhan in China.

The Chinese government has labelled the current rise in cases as a winter-related occurrence. The World Health Organisation is yet to put out a public alert on the HPMV cases in China.

Not a new virus

The virus, which belongs to the Pneumoviridae family of viruses, was first detected in 2001. It can cause upper and lower respiratory infection in all age groups, but young children, older adults, and people with co-morbidities are most susceptible to it.

The virus causes sore throat, cough, shortness of breath, nasal congestion and fever. In severe cases, it may lead to pneumonia and bronchitis. The infection, like common flu, usually gets cured in a week, except for severe cases. The virus has a low mortality rate and few cases need hospitalisation.

Like Covid-19, it can spread through aerosols, which means that coughing and sneezing can spread the virus from an infected person to a healthy person. Touching infected surfaces can also spread the virus. It takes about three to five days for symptoms to first emerge in an infected person.

The virus widely circulates in winter. It can be detected through a nucleic acid amplification test.

Common in India

The health ministry on January 6 stated that the two Karnataka cases were recorded during routine surveillance and there is no cause for alarm. “Based on current data from the Indian Council of Medical Research and the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme network, there has been no unusual surge in influenza-like illness or severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) cases in the country,” the ministry said.

Of the two patients in Bengaluru, one is a three-month-old baby girl and the other an eight-month-old boy, both admitted for bronchopneumonia. The girl has been discharged and the boy is recovering in the hospital.

Mumbai-based pulmonologist Dr Lancelot Pinto said he noted a slight spike in HMPV cases in the city about three months ago. “That does not mean there is any unusual rise. We routinely come across HMPV cases,” he said.

Most of his patients were senior citizens with other underlying illnesses. Pinto said that the diagnosis of HMPV is not common due to the high cost involved. “Each test cost about Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000,” he said, adding that detection happens in hospitalised patients when a series of tests are conducted.

Pinto added that unless HMPV has undergone a mutation that can cause severe illness, there is no need to worry.

How to treat it

There is no vaccine for the HMPV virus. Its treatment is symptomatic. Doctors prescribe paracetamol for fever and gargles for nasal congestion. The only prevention possible at this point is regular hand washing and use of masks in crowded places. The Maharashtra and Karnataka governments have issued similar directives.

Since this is not a notified disease, the health ministry does not track the caseload each year.

Rakesh Mishra, director at the Bengaluru-based Tata Institute for Genetics and Society, said they have procured kits to detect HMPV and will soon begin testing sewage water to check traces of the virus. Waste water surveillance is an excellent tool to predict a possible outbreak of a virus. So far, Mishra said, they have not noted anything unusual in Bengaluru’s waste water samples.

Why the alarm?

Photos and videos of overcrowded hospitals with people wearing masks have emerged from China, spreading panic over the extent of current outbreak. China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning has, however, dismissed the cases as a winter flu. So far, Hong Kong and Malaysia have reported a few cases of HMPV. Other Asian countries are keeping a close watch on respiratory ailments.

No curbs on travel to China have been announced.