Dr Dayo Faneye is the head of the Department of Virology at the College of Medicine at the University of Ibadan. In this interview with SADE OGUNTOLA, she talks about what should be the concerns of Nigerians regarding the human metapneumovirus circulating in China and other European countries.
R ECENT social media reports on China have sparked big concerns about the possible spread of yet another infection, human metapneumovirus (HMPV). Is this virus like COVID-19?
Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is not a new virus, but it belongs to the virus family Paramyxoviridae same as measles virus. It is one of the respiratory viruses that is contracted from the respiratory droplets. If somebody with the virus sneezes, coughs, or talks near you and you inhale the virus and can get infected with the virus. The droplets on surfaces can also be contracted from an unwashed hand that touches such surfaces. The symptoms are similar to those of other respiratory viruses. Common symptoms of the human metapneumovirus include cough, fever, shortness of breath, and nasal congestion. These are similar to what we have with COVID-19. Unlike COVID-19, human metapneumovirus can cause pneumonia and that is where the name comes from.
Human metapneumovirus though, not so common is not a new virus like SARS-COV2 that causes COVID-19. As such, the spread of HMPV may not take a pandemic dimension like COVID.
It is said that it causes pneumonia of unknown origin, with the possibility of cases of respiratory diseases rising through the winter. Can this be the reason for human metapneumovirus in China?
Cold is not the cause of the infection. During the cold season, the rates of the virus spreading might be higher because the virus will be preserved more in the environment. However, if you are close to somebody who has the virus, you are at risk irrespective of the season.
People at extremes of ages because of their immunity status are more at risk of HPMV. It is assumed that an adult in the course of life could have had a similar viral infection. If it is not complicated, maybe there was just a common cold, and the individual gets over it and becomes well. However, children may not have been exposed to similar viruses to develop protective antibodies. The immune system in the elderly is waning because of age; it is no longer as active as it was in their early years.
Any condition that has compromised the immune status of the person, including cancer and HIV, can make a person prone to an infection because the body is less able to defend itself from the viral infection.
Do we therefore go back to the days of wearing face masks, washing our hands regularly, and keeping social distance?
We shouldn’t have stopped washing our hands; this is something we should continue. While we were serious about hand washing, the incidence of routine infections reduced drastically. Washing our hands is something that we should make a routine; it should become our norm. Even after COVID-19, wearing a face mask is still a normal thing for us in the hospital. It is also advisable that if you are in a large crowd or in a place, you’re not sure of your safety, you should wear the nose mask. Aside from it protecting the wearer, it also serves as a protector for other people catching an infection.
In the case of M-pox, the vaccine for smallpox was deployed. Are there vaccines that can be deployed for use in preventing human metapneumovirus?
There is no vaccine or antiviral drug for human metapneumovirus. There is a vaccine for measles, also an infection in the same family as human metapneumovirus. However, the vaccine for measles is not protective against this virus. There are needs for studies to investigate if any other vaccine can stimulate cross-protective antibodies for human metapneumovirus.
It is said that the world again through China is facing another surge in multiple viruses, including Influenza A, HMPV, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and COVID-19, overwhelming hospitals and crematoriums. What is your opinion about this?
I think that it is social media that is blowing up everything because, like, we have human metapneumovirus this season in China, and there is influenza virus causing flu in America and Europe. Human metapneumovirus is not a new virus per see, so it could just surface. In the same way, we are having measles repeatedly in Nigeria, and we are not saying that measles is a Nigerian virus; so it is with many viruses in different countries.
Do we have the HMPV in Nigeria? Is this virus similar to COVID?
I can’t say that we have the virus in Nigeria; we will have to test for the virus in people that presents with respiratory infection at the hospital to be able to say categorically if the virus is in Nigeria. We have many specialized hospital and centres that can test for human metapneumovirus. For example, the test can be done in the Department of Virology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and specialised laboratories at Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH; Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba.
The only thing that’s similar about them is that they present with a similar clinical presentation, like fever, shortness of breath, and nasal congestion, but they belong to different viral families.
Does this virus pose a similar threat to COVID?
It’s a respiratory virus, so anyone who has not been previously infected will be at risk of the virus Viruses are always posing risks especially respiratory viruses. The only thing you can do is maybe cover your nose by wearing the nose mask. You cannot say that you won’t breathe; it is not like a sexually transmitted virus that you will say okay I’m going to abstain from sex to protect myself. Breathing is an involuntary reaction so there’s nothing you can do other than wear face masks, wash your hands regularly, and maintain a social distance as much as possible.
Do Nigerians really need to worry or be on edge as it is portrayed on social media?
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says we have a moderate risk for human metapneumovirus, although there is no need for any kind of lockdown that we had during COVID. But regardless of this, we will be testing people that present with respiratory infection for human metapneumovirus. I have not heard of any confirmed case of human metapneumovirus in Nigeria, nor is there any confirmed case here in our laboratory. It is only after testing, and a case is detected, that we can then categorise it to know if it has a very high risk of spreading to other places. But for now, as NCDC said, we still have to monitor travellers coming into the country.
From science, is there any possibility of it reaching an epidemic proportion globally?
Yes, that is possible because it is a respiratory virus; it is also an RNA virus, meaning that it can mutate. A virus with the ability to mutate is a challenge. If it mutates, the antibody individuals had from previous infection wouldn’t be as protective as expected against the infection. So, it is a call for epidemic preparedness for institutions so that they can take the diagnosis and treat those found to be infected with this virus to prevent its spread in the country.
Does the virus portend danger to pregnant women?
Any pregnant woman who has not had a previous exposure to the virus is at risk. There are reports of pregnant women having low weight babies after exposure to human metapneumovirus.
What is your word to Nigerians regarding the virus, particularly now that the level of malnutrition is high in many communities due to the economic situation in the country?
Nigerians must protect themselves from being sick through regular hand washing, wearing of facemasks, avoidance of crowded places, and keeping of social distance. These are basic things that protect from any infectious disease.
Schools have just opened for another academic session. what will you tell school proprietors to do to keep pupils safe?
That is another thing because you can’t limit children, and since there’s no vaccine for the human metapneumovirus, educating children and their parents on it remains a key and important step to ensure protection from the virus. Children are easier to educate on steps to stay safe from illnesses; they easily comply with such instructions. They also can be a medium to reach out to adults with appropriate information on staying safe. So, school proprietors must keep health educating their pupils on hand washing, wearing face masks in crowded places and social distancing.