Affects the respiratory tract: Scientists search for a vaccine against a new virus similar to COVID-19
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Anastasiya Nesenyuk In the winter of 2022, while the COVID-19 coronavirus was on the wane, a little-known virus that causes similar symptoms – lung infection, hacking cough, runny nose, and sore throat – was only gaining momentum. It is about human metapneumovirus (HMPV). Why is it dangerous and what are the main symptoms, according to CNN. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s respiratory virus surveillance systems, cases of human metapneumovirus (HMPV) increased in the spring of 2023. At its peak in mid-March 2022, nearly 11% of physician-tested samples in US intensive care units tested positive for HMPV. This is about 36% above the average seasonal peak before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, it was only about 7% of positive results for HMPV. However, unlike COVID-19 and influenza, there is no vaccine for HMPV or antiviral drugs to treat it. Pharmaceutical companies are currently working on vaccines against metapneumovirus. In particular, Moderna, the manufacturer of the vaccine against COVID-19, has just completed an early trial of an mRNA vaccine against HMPV. Studies have shown that metapneumovirus causes as many health problems in the United States every year as the flu and its close respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Therefore, doctors identify the following signs of metapneumovirus: cough; cold; intoxication (fever, body ache); dyspnea; physical changes in the lungs; dysfunction of the gastrointestinal tract; bronchitis or pneumonia. Human metapneumovirus was discovered by the Dutch in 2001. After receiving 28 samples from children in the Netherlands with respiratory infections of unknown origin, the researchers cultured the samples in different cell types from monkeys, chickens and dogs. They studied an infection structurally related to the family of paramyxoviruses (paramyxoviridae), which cause human respiratory diseases such as measles, mumps and RSV. After studying the genes of the virus more closely, scientists discovered its close relative: avian metapneumovirus. The new disease was named human metapneumovirus. According to scientists, having evolved, he passed from birds to humans. When researchers tested blood samples from 72 patients that had been stored since 1958, they all showed traces of exposure to the virus. This means that for at least the last half century he was among people unnoticed. Because testing for HMPV is rarely performed outside of hospitals, it is difficult to determine the true extent of the disease. A 2020 study in the journal Lancet Global Health estimated that there were more than 14 million HMPV infections, more than 600,000 hospitalizations, and more than 16,000 deaths among children under 5 years of age worldwide in 2018. It will be recalled that the World Health Organization has announced that COVID-19 is no longer considered a global public health emergency. In Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers extended the state of emergency and quarantine due to COVID-19 until June 30, 2023. Read also: It looks like poisoning: in Lviv, medics saved a child with severe COVID complications
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