HMPV outbreak: Eight-year-old in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat suspected to have virus

Isolation wards have been created in Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad (seen above) and Rajkot civil hospitals. Pic/PTI

A suspected case of human metapneumovirus (HMPV) infection has been reported in the Himatnagar city of Sabarkantha district of Gujarat, officials said Wednesday.

The blood sample of an eight-year-old boy, who is currently on a ventilator in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a private hospital, has been sent to a government hospital for confirmation after he tested positive for the virus in a private laboratory, they informed.

"The case is under screening. A sample has been sent to a government lab for confirmation, and the result is awaited," Sabarkantha District Collector Ratankanvar Gadhavicharan said.

"The patient, who was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday morning, showed signs of severe pneumonia after which his blood sample was sent for examination to a private laboratory which confirmed that he was infected with HMPV," Dr Imtiaz Memon of Baby Care Hospital said.

After he tested positive, the district health authorities were informed and they sent another sample to a government hospital for cross checking, he said.

The child is on a ventilator in the hospital's ICU, he added.

HMPV outbreak: First case in Gujarat was reported two days ago

On Monday, Gujarat reported its first confirmed case of HMPV infection after a two-month-old was tested positive for the virus. The baby's report came positive from a private laboratory on December 26 but the case was reported late to the health department, news agency PTI reported.

Isolation wards have been created in the civil hospitals of Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad and Rajkot as a precautionary measure after the first case came to light in the state, officials said.

To deal with any health emergency, isolation wards having 15 beds each (total 45) have been created in three major civil hospitals of Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad and Rajkot, a statement by the health department said.

Gujarat Health Minister Rushikesh Patel informed that the state's Health and Family Welfare Department was on an alert mode with all arrangements in place to tackle the situation, PTI reported.

All these wards are currently vacant as no new cases of suspected HMPV infection have been detected, the statement said.

On Monday, the health department issued a circular asking all government hospitals to take necessary steps to handle HMPV cases.

Additional testing kits will be procured and distributed to these hospitals in the coming days to speed up detection of the cases of HMPV, a respiratory illness with flu-like symptoms.

Patel said that his department held a meeting on January 4 and instructed chief district health officers, civil surgeons, superintendents of sub-district hospitals in the state to pay full attention to the matters related to the virus.

Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry has emphasised that HMPV is already in circulation globally, including in India, and cases of respiratory illnesses associated with it have been reported in various countries, PTI reported.

Furthermore, based on the current data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) network, there has been no unusual surge in Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) or Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) cases in the country, it said.

(With PTI inputs)