While cases are climbing in China, the situation is very different from what it was when Covid-19 emerged five years ago, medical experts say. HMPV is common and decades old.

How worried should you be about the HMPV outbreak in China?The Independent/ Lumen5

The human metapneumovirus is reportedly surging in China, but should Americans be concerned? Here's what to know about HMPV symptoms and more.

Cases of human metapneumovirus, or HMPV, are in the U.S. too, and it looks similar to other seasonal illnesses. Here's what to know before you panic.

Professor Paul Hunter from the University of East Anglia notes that almost every child contracts HMPV by five years of age, with reinfections occurring throughout life. “HMPV typically causes cold-like symptoms that recover by themselves within 2 to 5 days. Severe cases are rare but can occur in vulnerable groups,” he says.

China’s winter illness season is less severe compared to the year before, according to data from its health authority. But the proliferation of a long-standing though little-known pathogen called human metapneumovirus (hMPV) has been raising alarm both at home and in other countries.

Chinese doctors have recorded an outbreak of hMPV in the country.