One more case of the Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) has been detected in Gujarat on Monday, taking the tally to three cases in the country.
A two-year-old child was reported to be infected from Chandkheda’s area of Ahmedabad.
The child, from Rajasthan, was admitted to a private hospital in Chandkheda after showing symptoms of cold and cough. The child is stable now, reports quoted civic officials as saying.
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This comes after the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Monday informed of two HMPV cases in two babies — aged three- and eight-month-old — in Bengaluru.
The HMPV infection was detected via routine surveillance in a 3-month-old girl and an 8-month-old boy in Bengaluru.
Both had a history of bronchopneumonia — a form of pneumonia, a lung infection. Bronchopneumonia affects both the alveoli in the lungs and the bronchi.
“Both cases were identified through routine surveillance for multiple respiratory viral pathogens, as part of ICMR’s ongoing efforts to monitor respiratory illnesses across the country,” the health ministry statement said.
The ministry noted that while the baby girl “has been discharged”, the baby boy “is now recovering”.
“It is important to note that neither of the affected patients have any history of international travel,” the Ministry said.
The Karnataka government has emphasised that the HMPV already exists in India, and the cases detected are the first in India.
“We cannot call it the first case in the country. The virus already exists here. The individual may have been tested for this specific virus, and it has been detected, that’s all,” said Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, while speaking to the media, ahead of an emergency meeting on the matter.
The Ministry stated that HMPV is already in circulation globally, including in India. Cases of respiratory illnesses associated with HMPV have been reported in Malaysia and various countries, particularly in China.
“Union Health Ministry is monitoring the situation through all available surveillance channels,” it said noting that, “there has been no unusual surge in Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) or Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) cases in the country”.
ICMR will continue to track trends in HMPV circulation throughout the year.
Meanwhile, the ministry also reiterated that “India is well-equipped to handle any potential increase in respiratory illnesses and public health interventions can be deployed promptly if needed”.
HMPV was first discovered in 2001 and is part of the Pneumoviridae family along with the Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The symptoms commonly associated with HMPV include cough, fever, nasal congestion, and shortness of breath.
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