How to protect your family from HMPV

Some in the medical community are calling human metapneumovirus the most important virus many have never heard of. Discovered in 2001, HMPV can cause upper and lower respiratory disease in people of all ages, especially young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems. There are no vaccines or treatments for HMPV. Cases of HMPV spiked this spring, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's respiratory virus surveillance systems. Dr. Mark Goldstein, director of emergency medicine at Sinai Hospital in northwest Baltimore, said that in many cases, the virus is mild.