Filenews 14 January 2025 - by Marilena Panayi
From the "tridemic" (flu, RSV, Covid-19) we pass, as everything shows, globally, to the "tetrademia".
The international scientific community has already begun to use this term, adding viruses and human metapneumovirus to the three dominant viruses at that time.
HMPV, this year seems to have made its first major attack in China and then incidents began to be detected in other parts of the world, as well as in European countries (among them Greece). In the United Kingdom, ten days ago, the positivity rate for this virus exceeded 4%.
At the national level and with regard to influenza and RSV, increased activity continues to be observed with respiratory syncytial virus having subsided somewhat, in children without a corresponding picture being observed in adults and especially the elderly.
Covid-19 has long presented the same stable picture with the number of hospitalized patients ranging between 30-35 per 24 hours.
Emergency departments also continue to come under increased pressure, with public sector departments exceeding 200 cases per day, while more than 300 patients have been transferred to the private sector between December 20 and last Saturday. In recent weeks, the attendance of patients, mainly with symptoms of seasonal infections, at the on-call clinics of the GHS has also increased.
At European level, the European Centre for Infection Control (ECDC) last Friday, while stressing that HMPV should not be a concern in terms of morbidity and mortality for the general public, underlined the need for preparation on the part of member states, as the increasing trend in influenza and RSV cases continues, covid-19 It remains firmly in the picture and the respiratory virus should be expected to show increased activity in the coming weeks.
For Covid-19, the ECDC states that "unlike influenza and RSV, which see activity limited to pure seasonal epidemics, a continuous background of severe Covid-19 has been observed, even when activity is at low levels. Correspondingly, the number of patients admitted to hospital who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 remained at similar levels to those observed for RSV."
The ECDC "recommends that member states prepare for increased cases of respiratory virus in the coming winter weeks and consider infection prevention and control practices to reduce transmission in healthcare settings, including long-term care facilities," the report said, reiterating its strict recommendations (for all viruses) for vulnerable groups of people such as elderly people and people with weakened immune systems.
"Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is not a new pathogen nor does it currently have the potential to cause a pandemic, but only epidemics during situations or periods of increased crowding, as is the case with any viral infection," explained pathologist – infectious disease specialist Nikolaos Spernovasilis.
"In many cases the infection acts asymptomatically. When it causes symptoms, it takes an average of 5 to 9 days from infection to onset. The symptoms most commonly concern the upper respiratory tract and are mild, similar to those of the common cold such as nasal congestion or runny nose, pharyngalgia, laryngitis, and sometimes feverish movement (mainly in children, rarely in adults).
In some cases it can also affect the lower respiratory tract causing bronchiologia, bronchitis or pneumonia which are manifested by coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and fever. Lower respiratory involvement is usually mild, but in certain groups of people it can be severe. Such risk groups for severe disease are young children under 5 years of age (and especially infants, i.e. people under the age of one year), people over 65 years of age and regardless of age, those with chronic respiratory problems (such as COPD or asthma) and those who are severely immunocompromised."
