Total cases rise to 18…
On Monday, 13 January 2025, a child in Puducherry tested positive for human metapneumovirus (HMPV) and is being treated at JIPMER. This made it the second HMPV case reported from the Union Territory.
According to Health Director V Ravichandran, the child was admitted to the state-run Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research last week with a fever, cough, and a runny nose. He said she was responding well to treatment, and the doctors had ensured all necessary precautions.
Puducherry reported its first HMPV case in a three-year-old, who was being treated at a private hospital. The child fully recovered and was discharged on January 11.
Health authorities in the Union Territory, since then, have stepped up preventive measures to handle the virus effectively.
Since China reported an increase in virus-based respiratory illnesses, echoes of the COVID-19 pandemic have been felt across the world in the past two weeks. India stepped up the checking process and put precautions in place.
With the second case of HMPV reported from Puducherry, the total cases of the virus in India reached 18.
Five cases were reported from Gujarat, three in Maharashtra, two each in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and one from Assam.
All patients were children, as is the case with an HMPV infection. The virus is not new and was first discovered in 2001 in the Netherlands.
Edited By: Tanvi Walia
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