HMPV Unmasked: Will You Catch this Nasty Virus Without Knowing It?

Have you been sick in the last few weeks? I’m talking about a really nasty upper respiratory tract infection. Symptoms include sore throat, stuffy nose, fever, wheezing and a horrible hacking cough! If that sounds like a typical cold, I am here to tell you that it might be much worse. I speak with some authority because I am pretty sure I caught this virus two years ago. That’s when human metapneumovirus (aka HMPV) was spreading like crazy. Now it’s sweeping across China.

Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV)

The CNN headline (May 29, 2023) about HMPV caught our attention:

Doctors say this is the most important virus you’ve never heard of

We had never heard of HMPV, but it certainly sounded like what hit our family. We had all traveled to Longmont, Colorado, for a memorial service. Everyone tested for COVID before leaving home and again when we arrived in Colorado. We also tested when we got back home several days later.

One person came from Portland, Oregon and was sniffling and coughing. She was negative for COVID, several times. But within a few days of returning home, almost everyone was sick with a really nasty upper respiratory tract infection. We all tested again, and again we were all negative for COVID-19.

Most of us were coughing up a storm. And the cough persisted for weeks. It took me almost two months to fully get over the lung infection. That makes me think that we caught human metapneumovirus!

In 2023 HMPV Spiked In Mid March!

Here is a link to the CDC’s respiratory virus data for the US. It comes from The National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS). It takes a bit of fiddling to figure out.

If you look at the graph you will see that cases of HMPV started showing up in January, 2023. They peaked in March and were starting to decline towards the end of April. Those dates certainly corresponded to our upper respiratory tract infections. Portland was a hotbed for HMPV infections just about the time our relative showed up coughing and sneezing.

Fast Forward to China in January, 2025:

Public health authorities in China have reported that HMPV cases are at high levels. China’s CDC (Centre for Disease Control) has downplayed the idea that hospitals have been overwhelmed, but it has urged people to wear masks, wash hands and increase immunity.

That’s about what we hear from public health authorities around the world. Americans are not about to start wearing face masks again, whether to ward off influenza (which is also starting to soar) human metapneumovirus, norovirus, RSV, walking pneumonia (Mycoplasma pneumoniae) or any other pathogen for that matter.

All these viral and bacterial infections are starting to spread around the world as well as in the US. People who think we will be able to avoid human metapneumovirus this winter are deluding themselves. Because there is no readily available and affordable home test for this viral pathogen, we won’t know if we have caught it, RSV, whooping cough or something else. Perhaps the CDC will release new data on January 10, 2025. To date, though, I have found very little about its surveillance for this infection in recent weeks.

What Is HMPV Anyway?

According to the CDC:

“Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) can cause upper and lower respiratory disease in people of all ages, especially among young children, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems. Discovered in 2001, HMPV is in the Pneumoviridae family along with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).”

What jumps out for me is that this virus was only “discovered” in 2001 by Dutch researchers. That means a lot of healthcare providers probably never learned about it in school. It has almost assuredly been making people sick for many decades, though.

Although the symptoms are similar to the common cold, there is nothing common about HMPV. This virus is within the Paramyxoviridae family. It is a major cause of respiratory infections in humans, but it has flown under the radar for a long time. I’ll bet you never heard of HMPV before either.

The CDC describes symptoms this way:

“Symptoms commonly associated with HMPV include cough, fever, nasal congestion, and shortness of breath. Clinical symptoms of HMPV infection may progress to bronchitis or pneumonia and are similar to other viruses that cause upper and lower respiratory infections. The estimated incubation period is 3 to 6 days, and the median duration of illness can vary depending upon severity but is similar to other respiratory infections caused by viruses.”

That certainly describes our experience. Our family came down with this “bug” within about 3 to 6 days of exposure. And it was a lot worse than the “common cold.” For most people, it acts like a horrible cold, but for the very young and the very old, it can be deadly.

There are no easy tests for HMPV, no vaccinations and no treatments. I remain disappointed that our highly vaunted research community has been unable to develop rapid tests for most of the viral and bacterial infections that are circulating this winter.

Even worse, we have crappy treatments. The OTC drugs that are often recommended for upper respiratory tract infections are probably counterproductive because they almost inevitably contain fever reducers. Such drugs likely lower interferon levels, our body’s natural immunological response to infection (Evolution, Medicine & Public Health, Nov. 23, 2020). You may wish to listen to our podcast on this topic at this link:

Show 1369: What to Do If You Catch the Flu

Dr. Roger Seheult is a pulmonologist and critical care physician. He provides practical information in that podcast about heat/hydrotherapy, zinc, vitamin D, ventilation, sunshine and many other practical measures for dealing with a variety of upper respiratory tract infection.

The CDC offers the standard recommendations for any viral infection. It tells doctors to advise patients to follow these steps:

• Wash their hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds (see CDC’s Clean Hands Save Lives!).
• Avoid touching their eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

That’s pretty much what the CDC told us at the start of the COVID pandemic. How well did that work?

Can You Avoid Catching HMPV?

Let’s be honest, we do not have good strategies to prevent virus-related upper respiratory tract infections. All the experts we have consulted over the last few years point out that viruses like SARS-CoV-2 float through the air. Plexiglass barriers and six feet of distance will not protect you from all of them.

Just imagine someone smoking a cigar in a supermarket or a bank. I know that is hard to visualize these days, but humor me. If you can see smoke or even smell it, chances are pretty good you are breathing in particles that are comparable to viruses.

Dr. Linsey Marr is one of the world’s leading experts on viral transmission and air quality. We have interviewed her a couple of times on our nationally syndicated public radio show. Here is a link to Show 1253: The Lessons of COVID-19 on How to Avoid Airborne Viral Transmission. You can listen to the streaming audio by clicking on the arrow inside the green circle below Dr. Marr’s photo. It is well worth a few minutes of your time. Her suggestions apply to many types of respiratory tract infections, not just COVID.

If you would like to read more about air quality, check out this article:

Did You Catch Flu, RSV, COVID or Whooping Cough? Are You Contagious?

Final Words:

You hear a lot from the CDC about upper respiratory tract infections such as influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). By the way, the FDA announced (May 3, 2023) that it approved an RSV vaccine (Arexvy). On May 31, 2023 Pfizer announced that it too had received approval to sell an RSV vaccine (Abrysvo). These vaccines have the green light for “individuals 60 years and older.”

On January 7, 2025 the FDA announced that it will require warnings on both vaccines that they increase the risk for Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) “during the 42 days following vaccination.”

The agency goes on to note:

“GBS is a rare disorder in which the body’s immune system damages nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis.

New Warning about Risk for GBS Following Vaccination

FDA conducted a postmarketing observational study that assessed the risk of GBS following vaccination with Abrysvo and Arexvy. Based on FDA’s evaluation of data from clinical trials, reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), and the postmarketing study, FDA has determined that the overall body of evidence suggests increased risks of GBS with Abrysvo and Arexvy, but that available evidence is insufficient to establish a causal relationship.”

The FDA was quick to add that the benefits of the vaccines “continue to outweigh their risks.”

What About You?

Did you catch a nasty upper respiratory tract infection in the last few months? If so, please share your experience in the comment section below. If you have had a cough, please describe it so that other readers will have some sense of what it was like. If you have avoided respiratory symptoms, please tell us what has worked for you.

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