As hMPV cases rise, what you need to know about the 'mystery' illness

As hMPV cases rise, what you need to know about the 'mystery' illness

hMPV 사례가 증가함에 따라 '미스터리' 질병에 대해 알아야 할 사항

팻 헤이건(Pat Hagan)의 이야기

 • 08/01/2025

 

The scenes are eerily familiar – crowded hospitals in China overrun by masked patients seeking medical help as infection tears through the population.

But this time it's not Covid-19 doing the damage. Instead, doctors are struggling to cope with high rates of sickness caused by a different organism known as human metapneumovirus or HMPV.

이 장면은 섬뜩할 정도로 익숙합니다 – 감염이 사람들을 휩쓸고 지나가면서 마스크를 쓴 환자들로 넘쳐나는 중국의 붐비는 병원들.

하지만 이번에는 코로나19가 피해를 입히지 않습니다. 대신, 의사들은 인간 메타뉴모바이러스(HMPV)로 알려진 다른 유기체로 인한 높은 질병률에 대처하기 위해 고군분투하고 있습니다.

 

이 바이러스는 감기 및 독감과 유사한 증상을 일으키지만 특정 그룹, 특히 어린이와 노인에게 위험할 수 있습니다.

그리고 걱정스럽게도, 다른 나라들에서도 확진자가 급증하고 있다고 보고하고 있습니다 – 영국에서는 한 달 만에 두 배로 증가했습니다.

그렇다면 얼마나 걱정해야 하며 이것이 다음 전염병의 시작이 될 수 있습니까? 여기 당신이 알아야 할 모든 것이 있습니다...

 

 

What is HMPV? 

HMPV belongs to the same family of infectious bugs as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which is already a common source of the lung infection bronchiolitis during winter – hospitalising around 30,000 children and 18,000 adults in the UK every year.

Respiratory viruses spike in winter because we spend more time indoors and in closer proximity to each other, allowing bugs to spread more easily.

HMPV was first officially identified by a team of Dutch scientists in 2001 but some evidence suggests it's been circulating for hundreds of years.

 

HMPV란?

HMPV는 호흡기 세포융합 바이러스(RSV)와 같은 감염성 바이러스군에 속하며, 이미 겨울철 폐 감염 세기관지염의 흔한 원인으로 매년 영국에서 약 30,000명의 어린이와 18,000명의 성인이 입원합니다.

호흡기 바이러스는 겨울에 급증하는데, 이는 우리가 실내에서 더 많은 시간을 보내고 서로 더 가까이 있기 때문에 벌레가 더 쉽게 퍼질 수 있기 때문입니다.

HMPV는 2001년 네덜란드 과학자 팀에 의해 처음으로 공식적으로 확인되었지만, 일부 증거에 따르면 수백 년 동안 유행해 왔다고 합니다.

의사들은 인간 메타뉴모바이러스(HMPV)로 알려진 다른 유기체로 인한 높은 질병에 대처하기 위해 고군분투하고 있습니다. 중국 항저우의 한 병원 대기실이 사진에 담겨 있다

전문가들은 독감과 유사한 증상을 일으키는 HMPV는 며칠 동안 몸에 잠복해 있을 수 있어 다른 사람에게 쉽게 전염될 수 있다고 경고했습니다

You may not have heard of it because it is just one of many viruses (at least 200 at the last count) known to cause cold and flu symptoms in the UK every year.

In fact, it's estimated almost every child in the country has had at least one HMPV infection by the time they reach their fifth birthday which, in most cases, would have presented as just a bit of a sniffle.

 

왜 우리는 이제서야 그것에 대해 듣는 것일까?

HMPV has hit the headlines because of a surge in cases in China, especially in children – with social media swamped with images of hospitals being overrun.

While it hasn't released official data, China says there has been a spike in HMPV cases in the north of the country, while India, Malaysia and Kazakhstan have also announced a surge.

 

얼마나 위험합니까?

For most healthy adults it's unlikely to cause serious problems. But in very young infants as well as the elderly or anyone with a chronic illness including leukaemia or rheumatoid arthritis, HMPV can lead to worrying complications.

These include pneumonia and bronchiolitis (especially in babies), where the virus causes dangerous inflammation in the small airways. Bronchiolitis kills around 20 to 30 babies a year in the UK. And, especially in the elderly, acute respiratory infections heighten the risks of heart attacks and strokes.

 

내가 그것을 가지고 있는지 어떻게 알 수 있습니까?

You wouldn't – unless you were very ill and were tested for it. But in the vast majority of cases, the main symptoms are very similar to a common cold: coughing, blocked or runny nose, sore throat and slight fever.

As with other viruses, these are caused by the body's immune system trying to fight it off. Some people may also experience nausea and vomiting, but in most cases this is very short-lived – symptoms often disappear within two to five days.

You probably wouldn't be tested for the infection unless it caused complications that meant you ended up in hospital, where doctors might need to clarify what was causing your symptoms.

If so, they might do a rapid antigen test – like the DIY Covid tests used during the pandemic – where a nasal swab is examined for the presence of the hMPV virus.

Or they may use a more sensitive and high-tech PCR test (again, similar to those deployed for Covid) which looks for traces of genetic material from the virus in nasal swabs.

 

중국 확진자는 팬데믹의 시작인가?

Experts have noted that while HMPV is usually detected in the winter period, the rates of serious infection may be higher in China than might normally be expected.

But according to leading British experts, it's unlikely this outbreak is the start of a pandemic.

HMPV replicates slowly and mutates into new strains at a much slower rate than flu or Covid. Even if this HMPV outbreak is due to a new strain of the virus – for which there's no evidence yet – expert consensus is it's likely to be sufficiently similar to other circulating strains and our body's defences will already have a degree of immunity to it.

안면 보호대를 착용한 어린이가 중국 항저우의 한 병원에서 의료진의 진료를 기다리는 동안 성인에게 안겨 있다

다른 감기, 독감 또는 Covid 바이러스와 거의 같은 방식으로 ¿ HMPV는 대부분 공기 중에 떠다니며 오염된 비말을 흡입하여 한 사람에서 다른 사람으로 이동합니다

 

'While HMPV does mutate over time, with new strains emerging, it is not a virus that we consider to have pandemic potential,' says Dr Andrew Catchpole, chief scientific officer at HVIVO, an independent research body based in the UK that helps develop vaccines against infectious diseases.

Compare this virus with Covid-19 – this was a completely new pathogen. The human immune system was ill-equipped to deal with it until vaccines arrived.

Pandemics usually occur in one of two ways. Either a completely new pathogen gets into the human population, or a new variant of an existing virus, formed by a combination of a human and animal version, forms a powerful new organism. Could this have happened? Dr Catchpole adds: 'There is no such animal reservoir of related viruses for HMPV.'

 

NHS를 압도할 것인가?

According to the UK Health Security Agency, HMPV is currently at what it describes as a 'medium' level of activity.

For example, in the week ending December 23, 2024, 4.53 per cent of hospital patients in England who had a PCR for the virus tested positive, up from 2.5 per cent at the beginning of the month and five times the amount testing positive in the summer.

That said, the numbers are not radically different from the same time last year. To put it in context, the number of people testing positive for flu during the same week was more than 14 per cent, and for RSV 7.35 per cent.

Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine and expert in infectious diseases at the University of East Anglia, said it may be improved testing methods are detecting more cases – rather than infections actually rising dramatically.

 

어떻게 퍼집니까?

In much the same way as other cold, flu or Covid viruses – it's largely airborne and moves from one person to another through inhaling contaminated droplets.

These travel deep into the lungs, where the virus hijacks healthy cells to use them as a reproduction 'factory', to spread further.

However, just as with cold and flu bugs, HMPV can also be picked up from touching contaminated surfaces or direct contact with an infected person, especially if they touch you in areas where the virus can easily invade the body – such as around the mouth, nose or eyes. Symptoms show within three to six days.

엄청난 수의 환자가 중국의 한 병원을 압도하는 것 같습니다. 소셜 미디어에서 가져온 사진

중국의 한 병원에서 점적액이 붙어있는 환자. 소셜 미디어에서 가져온 사진

 

어떻게 하면 걸리지 않을 수 있습니까?

The most effective defence is the same basic hygiene measures for any winter virus: washing hands with soap and warm water (to get rid of any viral particles lurking on your skin) and regularly cleaning surfaces around the home.

Some experts advise steering clear of high-contact surfaces, such as handrails and doorknobs in busy places – and wearing face masks in crowded environments.

 

어떻게 치료하나요?

Most cases don't need treatment other than the usual over-the-counter remedies for cold and flu symptoms, such as paracetamol and ibuprofen.

 

백신이 있습니까?

No, but there are several in development targeted at babies.