China's HMPV outbreak: How a seasonal virus caused unwarranted media panic?

As winter grips the Northern Hemisphere, a seasonal rise in respiratory infections has sparked alarmist coverage in a section of the international media that is focused disproportionately on the outbreak of the Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) virus in China.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and public health experts have cautioned that the increase in such viruses including HMPV cases is typical for the winter season, and there is no reason to be alarmed.

Experts have also ruled out the risk of another COVID-like pandemic.

In late December, Chinese authorities reported an increase in HMPV positive cases among children aged 14 and under as part of their broader and routine update on the respiratory virus season.

When videos of crowded hospitals started doing the rounds on social media, it immediately set off a firestorm of speculation about the potential onset of another global outbreak.

However, respiratory illnesses in China this season appear less severe and are spreading on a smaller scale than last year, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning asserted in a regular press conference on Friday.

WHO echoed similar assessments, stressing that China’s respiratory infection rates remain within the usual seasonal range and pose no extraordinary threat.

“The observed increase in respiratory pathogen detections [in China] is within the range expected for this time of year during the Northern Hemisphere winter,” the global health authority said in a statement on Tuesday.

The US and Europe have virus outbreaks, too

While a segment of foreign media has focused heavily on China’s HMPV outbreak, similar or even more severe viral outbreaks involving other pathogens in the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world have received relatively less attention.

“Some of the more sensationalistic Western and Indian media are hyping Chinese cases,” Josef Gregory Mahoney, a professor of politics and international relations at Shanghai-based East China Normal University, tells TRT World.

“Nevertheless, leading media seems to be taking a more balanced approach," he adds.

For instance, earlier this week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported first death from the H5N1 bird flu strain in Louisiana.

Louisiana health department said the patient was over the age of 65, and had other underlying health conditions.

The US is also experiencing a rise in respiratory virus infections, with influenza cases leading the surge, as noted by the CDC last week.

In its weekly respiratory virus update, the CDC stated that it anticipates hospitalisations from respiratory viruses during the fall and winter to reach a peak similar to or lower than last season.

However, officials expect the overall peak in hospitalisations to remain higher than levels seen before the emergence of SARS-CoV-2.

Another virus is surging across the US, according to government data. It is Norovirus, a stomach bug notorious for causing outbreaks in crowded settings. The latest CDC figures reveal that 91 Norovirus outbreaks were reported during the week of December 5, a rise from 69 outbreaks recorded in the final week of November.

Meanwhile, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in mid-December reported sharp increases in influenza and RSV activity across multiple countries. And on Tuesday, France detected its first case of the new Mpox virus, adding to the region's public health challenges.

Post-COVID media bias

Despite these developments, media narratives have largely downplayed or framed these outbreaks as routine while relatively sensationalising China's situation.

This selective focus raises questions about the motivations behind such reporting, especially when global health authorities, including the WHO have stressed that China’s respiratory infection rates remain within the usual seasonal range and pose no extraordinary threat.

“Western media rarely hesitates to portray China in the worst light, and this is due to ideological differences and Orientalist clickbait business models,” explains Mahoney.

“However, in this case a number of leading platforms appear to be exercising restraint,” he observes.

The discourse surrounding HMPV highlights how perceptions of infectious disease threats have become distorted in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, particularly when images of sick people emerge from China.

Viruses that are well-known among experts but obscure to the public are now attracting disproportionate attention.

The concerns about HMPV echo the panic last winter over childhood Pneumonia cases in China caused by the common Mycoplasma pneumonia bacterium, which periodically spikes in various countries. Public health experts deemed those fears, including calls for a travel ban, to be similarly exaggerated.

“There’s just this tendency post-COVID to treat every infectious-disease event as an emergency, even when it’s not,” said Amesh Adalja, an infectious diseases physician and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Speaking to The Washington Post, he added that similar outbreaks likely wouldn’t have drawn media attention or prompted inquiries to health experts before the COVID era.

China: Seasonal trends, not a crisis

According to WHO, acute respiratory infections, including HMPV, have increased in China, following the patterns typical of winter months.

“WHO is in contact with Chinese health officials and has not received any reports of unusual outbreak patterns. Chinese authorities report that the health care system is not overwhelmed and there have been no emergency declarations or responses triggered,” the January 7 statement added.

HMPV, first identified in 2001, is not new. It causes symptoms akin to the common cold and, in some cases, bronchitis or pneumonia, mainly in vulnerable populations like children and the elderly. The virus circulates globally during winter, yet its detection in China has been framed as alarming by a section of the media.

“There’s no real cause for concern. The virus has been around for decades, and experts say that the outbreaks wax and wane in the winter months,” says Shanghai-based Mahoney.

“The virus has been found worldwide since at least 2001, when it was first detected in the Netherlands. There’s no indication that it originated in China.”

WHO’s Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) has also observed elevated influenza activity across the Northern Hemisphere, encompassing regions in Asia, Europe, North America and Africa.

The Chinese government has reiterated its commitment to transparent disease reporting, with Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun emphasising on Tuesday that the country's robust surveillance systems are functioning effectively.

Ironically, outbreaks in China often come to global attention through official announcements by Chinese authorities, only to be followed by alarmist narratives in sections of the media. This raises a pertinent question: if such biased reporting persists, could it discourage China from openly announcing outbreaks in the future?

“Not at all,” Mahoney counters. “China has demonstrated its commitment to addressing public health concerns transparently because openness is essential for mitigation,” he explains.

He further notes that secrecy in such cases is virtually impossible. “Contact epidemiology is highly effective at tracing infections and their spread. Chinese disease tracking and reporting systems have improved significantly. This doesn’t mean cases in China are worse than normal or worse compared to other countries,” Mahoney concludes.