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Sri Lanka has had HMPV for a long while now
View(s):- ‘Don’t panic, urges expert, assuring there would not be a sudden pandemic from this virus
By Kumudini Hettiarachchi
The human metapneumovirus (HMPV) was identified as circulating in Sri Lanka back in December 2023 and there is no need to panic about it or be misled by social media posts, an expert assured this week.
“We have identified HMPV in Sri Lanka when we subjected some of our samples to metagenomic sequencing (a sequencing approach which identifies all pathogens in a sample),” said Prof. Neelika Malavige, Professor, Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura.
Prof. Neelika Malavige
Assuring that her department has the full genome sequence of HMPV from a sample collected in December 2023 from Colombo, she pointed out that many positives had also been identified at the Kandy National Hospital by Consultant Virologist Dr. Atheeka Akram there.
She also referred to a study conducted among 500 children between 2016-2018 at the Kegalle General Hospital by Divarathna et al which showed that 23.8% of children had been infected with HMPV and had mild to severe bronchiolitis. The findings had been published in the Sri Lankan Journal of Infectious Diseases 2021 Vol 11 (Supplement) S2:12.
According to Prof. Malavige her department had not tested for HMPV in December 2024 and January 2025 so far, which is the usual ‘season’ for viral infections. But it is “very obvious” that the virus has been circulating in Sri Lanka for a long time causing infections.
“What is clear is that despite HMPV circulating widely in Sri Lanka before, we all know that there was no major issue,” reiterated Prof. Malavige, pointing out that as seen in December-January, there were many admissions to hospitals with respiratory infections and HMPV is just one of the causes. Similar to all respiratory viruses, it is spread by droplets, contact and contaminated surfaces.
She allayed people’s fears by stressing that HMPV which has been identified in circulation worldwide at least since 2001 could not suddenly cause a pandemic like COVID-19. Since many lessons have been learnt from that pandemic, routine surveillance and sequencing of viruses causing outbreaks of respiratory symptoms or any febrile infection are being carried out globally and by her department.
HMPV was first identified in 2001 in the Netherlands, says Prof. Malavige, but this does not mean that it was not around before that. As technology develops, identification of viruses becomes cheaper and easier and as such viruses that cause many types of flu can be identified.
She says that infection with many of the respiratory viruses such as influenza, SARS-CoV-2, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and HMPV is seen in other countries during the winter months. Although Sri Lanka does not have a winter season, a seasonality of respiratory viruses is also seen here, with many infections in December-January and again May-July. HMPV can cause a significant portion of such infections, although in many parts of the world, the leading cause is influenza.
“HMPV causes mild illness, which manifests as a common cold, in most individuals. However, those who have a weak immune system, like premature babies, elderly, children and adults on immune-suppressive medication or those who are immune-compromised have a potential to develop severe disease and thus be hospitalised. This is similar to nearly all respiratory viruses such as influenza, SARS-CoV-2 etc., where the immune-compromised are more susceptible to severe disease,” adds Prof. Malavige.
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