Eight-month-old baby tests positive for HMPV in Bengaluru private hospital

HMPV in India: Karnataka reports first case of Human Meta-pneumo Virus in an eight-month-old baby in Bengaluru, further confirmation awaited.

Karnataka has reported the first case of Human Meta-pneumo Virus (HMPV) with an eight-month-old male baby testing positive for the virus at a private hospital in Bengaluru.

While the State Health Department confirmed that the baby has tested positive for HMPV, officials said the sample has been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune for further confirmation. 

According to the test report done at Baptist Hospital in Bengaluru, the eight-month and eight days old baby tested positive for HMPV and Human Rhinovirus/Enterovirus on January 3. 

Harsh Gupta, Karnataka’s Principal Secretary in the Health and Family Welfare Department, said HMPV is usually detected in children under the age of 11, and about 1% of all samples tested for respiratory illnesses are HMPV positive. “This may not be the first case as monitoring was not being done earlier. However, there is no need to panic as HMPV is like any other respiratory virus, which causes common cold and flu-like symptoms during winter, especially among the younger and older age groups,” he said.

He said the strain of virus detected in the baby is not yet known as there is no data available as yet on the strain detected in China.

Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao has convened a meeting on January 6 to review and discuss the situation.