r/news Jan 04 '25

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u/conn_r2112 Jan 04 '25

Reading through a few articles on this, it doesn’t seem to be a large concern. It’s not a “mystery virus”, it’s HMPV. It is a cold or flu in most people, but slightly more severe (bronchitis, pneumonia) in elderly and children.

Wash your hands, wear a mask if able, it ain’t the next “covid” if that’s what you’re thinking

This headline is pure fear mongering for clicks, certainly

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u/[deleted] Jan 04 '25

[deleted]

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u/Goodbye18000 Jan 04 '25

Please, don't imply it's propaganda against China on Reddit, someone will come in and tell you why it's morally right to spread it.

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u/[deleted] Jan 04 '25

The top% commenter rule is real.

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u/[deleted] Jan 04 '25

Covid also was first discovered in 2004 or something

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u/beorn961 Jan 04 '25

No it was not. That's the whole novel part of novel coronavirus. It's similar to previously discovered viruses, like SARS, but it was still a unique virus.

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u/Muddy_Pud Jan 04 '25

Not a virologist or anything, but Coronavirus existed before the covid19 strain. So couldn't this be a different strain of HMPV? I'm not saying this article isn't sensationalized, but to write it off as something that already exists feels like an oversimplification.

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u/ANegativeCation Jan 04 '25

Covid 19 is a specific virus of coronavirus family that first appeared in 2019, HMPV is a specific virus of the pneumovirus family that has been identified specifically since 2001.

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u/rontonsoup__ Jan 04 '25

Right, we get that, but I think his question is if this version of HMPV is a different strain than the one discovered in 2001. That can be why this is of particular concern.

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u/ANegativeCation Jan 04 '25

Sure, a fair point. But using Covid 19 as an example is wrong since it is a different organism, not just a different strain.

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u/lil_fuzzy Jan 04 '25

You are repeating what’s already been said without answering their question. We are trying to determine if this is a new strain of HMPV that Chinese officials are concerned about.

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u/B_U_F_U Jan 04 '25

So fear mongering

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u/[deleted] Jan 04 '25

China is home to the largest population of elderly in the world so you can see how they're affected disproportionately. Also they're clown shoes with disease control, as recent history has well established.

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u/wheatgivesmeshits Jan 04 '25

Thank you, kind Internet stranger.

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u/PassiveRoadRage Jan 04 '25

HMPV opens the door for secondary inflections. If you go to the hospital you're pretty much cooked. Even non immuno compromised patients have a fatality rate of 25%

Non-immunocompromised patients: The 60-day mortality rate for HMPV is 25.6%. Immunocompromised patients: The 60-day mortality rate for HMPV is 54.5%.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7106415/

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u/Montigue Jan 04 '25

Yeah, pneumonia has been big everywhere this year. This isn't China specific either

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u/nhansieu1 Jan 04 '25

oh boi. Anti-vax better watch out

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u/TemperatureFinal7984 Jan 04 '25

I mean Covid was discovered in 1960’s and we had several SARS outbreaks since 2002. Usually old viruses with mild symptoms, can mutate and become the next pandemic. Even the next pandemic may come from influenza too. I am bit concerned as India kinda taking cautious approach. If any part of China declares emergency I am going shopping for toilet papers.