Concerns have been mounting across Goa following reports that cases of human metapneumovirus (HMPV) have now been detected in certain Indian states. The virus has reportedly put considerable pressure on healthcare facilities in China, sparking fears of the outbreak of another pandemic on the lines of Covid-19 which devastated lives in several countries after it first emerged in late 2019.
India has already issued advisories to all states to strengthen and review their surveillance of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI). Although the central government has declared that India is well-prepared for any potential surge in cases of respiratory illnesses, people in Goa recently found out that the state government has no facilities of its own to test for HMPV and that the only private facility that offers the service charges as much as Rs 18,000.
Medical experts in the state insist that tests for cases of the flu are conducted only if acute respiratory illness is observed. However, the people, many of whom are still reeling from the havoc wreaked by the Covid-19 waves in 2020 and 2021, do not want to leave anything to chance and certainly do not want to wait until the eleventh hour when hospitals are crippled by the sheer volume of patients and testing centres are overburdened.
Unlike Covid-19, however, which was a novel pathogen, HMPV has been around for a while. The World Health Organisation (WHO), in its latest public report, has stated that trends in acute respiratory illnesses usually increase in the northern hemisphere at this time of the year due to seasonal epidemics of respiratory pathogens. While it has also mentioned that there have been suggestions that hospitals in China have been overwhelmed due to a spurt in HMPV infections, the WHO has maintained that HMPV is a common respiratory virus found to circulate in many countries from winter to spring, and that not all countries routinely test and publish data on the trends of the virus.
Some patients with HMPV, however, do require hospitalisation due to the development of bronchitis or pneumonia, but most infected people usually have mild upper respiratory symptoms similar to the common cold and recover after a few days, the WHO has stated. It has advised those with mild symptoms to stay home to avoid infecting other people, and to rest. People at high risk or with complicated or severe symptoms should seek medical care as soon as possible, it has said, and has also advised individuals to consider wearing a mask in crowded or poorly ventilated spaces, cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or a bent elbow, and to practice regular handwashing.
In the absence of any official warning from the state government, it would only be prudent for people to adopt these simple precautions early on, which will not only keep them safe but could also possibly avert the spread of HMPV. If any lessons have been learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic, the primary one is that personal hygiene and safety are paramount, and that one should not await an advisory from the government to start taking such measures.
The state government, on its part, should be extremely proactive in shoring up its facilities and responses to emergencies should the virus begin spreading rapidly. If anything, it should at least start taking an inventory of the required medical equipment at hand and should create awareness among its medical teams on how to manage and tackle an outbreak, if any. There is no harm in starting early. In fact, such a move could save hundreds of lives, rather than waiting for the last minute and then playing it by ear.
Emergency responses work best when everyone concerned is well-prepared and when the government is serious about the welfare of its people. In this day and age when the natural world is changing at a rapid pace and unpredictable weather patterns and illnesses are becoming more the norm than the exception, it would be wise to not leave anything to chance.