A potentially fatal respiratory virus called hMPV is spreading in New South Wales and is likely to outpace influenza and COVID-19 this spring.
Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) can cause upper and lower respiratory disease in people of all ages and can become particularly fatal in children under the age of five and people with weakened immune systems.
New South Wales Health detected around 1,168 cases last week but infection numbers are likely to be underestimated as people may not seek to get PCR tested.
Over the past two weeks, hMPV cases rose from 640 to 1,168, a trajectory set to outpace COVID-19.
Senior Medical Virologist Professor William Rawlinson says late winter and early spring is the usual time health experts tend to see an increase in Human metapneumovirus cases.
“We’re seeing more spread, less masks, so the spread is occurring, and this is the usual time of the year we do see hMPV, or RSV and other respiratory viruses,” he told Sky News Australia.
(Sky News)
