What do you need to know about HMPV?
A HMPV a virus that causes respiratory infections, which was first identified in 2001, however, according to some research, at least can be present for 60 years, so it is not a completely new disease. The virus is a Paramyxoviridae within the family a Pneumovirinae belongs to a subfamily, similar to the respiratory syncytial virus that causes many illnesses during the flu season (RSV).
it can infect people of any age, but it is most dangerous for babies, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.
The course of the disease is very similar to that of other seasonal cold viruses. A milder infection may cause a runny nose, sore throat, cough, fever, and fatigue. In the rare cases of more serious illness – especially if there is also a bacterial infection – even bronchitis, pneumonia, dyspnea and various systemic inflammations can occur. In case of worsening of the latter symptoms, the patient may even need hospitalization.
HMPV is highly contagious, similar to RSV and influenza. The R0 value of the virus (which shows how many other people an infected person can infect on average),
estimates range from 1.4 to 1.9, which is roughly the same as the seasonal flu infection rate, suggesting easy transmission.
At the same time, this number is still below the R0 of Covid-19 of 2-2.5.
Regarding the spread, several similarities can also be shown with the already mentioned diseases. The disease can spread
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with droplet infection (by inhaling virus particles that enter the air during coughing and sneezing),
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surfaces through (after touching an infected surface, if a person touches his eyes, nose or mouth),
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as well as with close contact (e.g. by hugging, kissing, or being in crowded places).
Since, according to the authorities, HMPV has already reared its head in several countries in previous years during the annual winter flu season, it is not surprising that the infections are not limited to China this time either. Hong Kongban and in India illness has already been reported, and authorities in several surrounding Asian countries, including Cambodia, are on alert. Miklós Rusvai is a virologist he told me that
the virus is already present in Hungary and new infected people are detected almost every week.
According to the specialist, in the years before the coronavirus, people were regularly exposed to the HMPV virus during the flu season, thanks to which many people became immunized against the disease. However, thanks to the closures, a few years of protection from infections were missed, and this led to a surge in the number of diseases caused by the virus. The virologist also added that in most cases, the disease can be overcome in 5-6 days, for which the key is adequate rest and drinking plenty of fluids.
Google searches skyrocketed on the news of the new disease
In our previous article, we already presented the basics of Google Trends in detail, the main information for using Google Trends, and summarized exactly how to interpret the data of the Google Trends graphs and the program’s “Currently Trending” subpage in order to find out what the most popular topics and news are in the in the world and in Hungary.
In the period before Christmas, for example, we also looked at how searches for , , and due to developed, and most recently we examined interest in 2025 working days and holidays.
Since the biggest alarm about the virus was perhaps caused by the fact that, like the Covid epidemic, it is also a virus originating from China, in addition to “HMPV”, we also examined the interest related to the search term “china virus” worldwide.
The 12-month data clearly shows the number of searches for both terms triggered by news of the HMPV virus.
It is important to note that the dashed line in the graph above indicates that the term is currently being used by a lot of people, so the system can only estimate the interest rates.
Ha we also include the term “covid” in the comparison and we examine a wider period, it can be seen that the coronavirus that caused a pandemic in 2019 generated much more interest at the outbreak of the epidemic than HMPV now.
However, since the Covid-19 epidemic has become more and more familiar to people in recent years and the virus has subsided thanks to vaccination and protective measures,
now the HMPV virus is generating more interest than the coronavirus.
Globally, regionally significant differences can be observed in internet interest in viruses (HMPV and Covid). While, unsurprisingly, interest in HMPV is mostly high in Asian countries, until then in the United States and most South American countries, more searches for Covid have continued since the outbreak of the HMPV epidemic at the end of last December.
Looking at the European map, it is apparent that the countries of the continent are divided: in Great Britain and in several countries of southern and eastern Europe, the HMPV virus, while in France and Spain, Covid caused more interest on the Internet.
Moving on to Hungary, from the end of December we can see a similar spike in search terms related to the virus as in the global data.
If we examine the picture broken down by county, it can be seen that the HMPV, which received a lot of media coverage, generated more interest in most of the country (eight counties and Budapest) than the general “virus” and “Covid” search terms.
however, in the counties of Zala, Somogy and Pest, the search intensity for the search term “Covid” was higher in Google than for terms related to the HMPV virus.
The article was published by Google supported it.
The cover image is an illustration. Cover image source: Getty Images
Source: www.portfolio.hu
