Abstract
We describe an outbreak of human metapneumovirus (hMPV) which occurred in July-September 2010 at a community hospital in the East of England. Based on the medical and nursing records, cases were retrospectively defined as suspected if they had had an influenza-like illness (ILI), and probable if they had had an ILI and an epidemiological link to a laboratory-confirmed case. Of a total of 17 symptomatic inpatients, five were classified as probable cases, five were laboratory confirmed and seven were suspected. The attack rate was 29.4% for confirmed and probable cases combined. The median age of symptomatic inpatients was 85 years-old (range 68-96) and the majority (16/17) of symptomatic inpatients had an underlying medical condition. Control measures introduced appeared to restrict further exposure of susceptible patients to infection although modelling suggested that up to four of 10 confirmed and probable cases (40%) could have been prevented through more timely diagnosis and recognition of an outbreak. These findings suggest that there should be increased awareness of hMPV infection within healthcare settings, particularly when the population at risk has a high prevalence of underlying co-morbidities.
Highlights
Human metapneumovirus is a paramyxovirus discovered in the Netherlands in 2001 [1]
It was first isolated from nasopharyngeal aspirates from children hospitalised with undiagnosed respiratory tract infection (RTI) it has been identified retrospectively in samples from children with upper respiratory tract illness (URTI) from 1982 [2]. Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is part of the same family as parainfluenza, measles and mumps virus
In the United Kingdom (UK), hMPV and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) co-circulate throughout the winter season both in hospitalised patients and in the community, with peak incidence found between December and March [5,6,7]
Summary
Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a paramyxovirus discovered in the Netherlands in 2001 [1]. It was first isolated from nasopharyngeal aspirates from children hospitalised with undiagnosed respiratory tract infection (RTI) it has been identified retrospectively in samples from children with upper respiratory tract illness (URTI) from 1982 [2]. Its genetic organisation is very similar to human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). In two studies carried out in Scotland, of over 7,000 and over 9,000 community specimens, hMPV was the fifth and the sixth most frequently detected respiratory virus [3,8]
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