Sunil Kumar Shivarame Gowda1*, Fekri Eltahir Abdalla2 and Raghunanda Narasimhaiah3
1Specialist Internal Medicine, District Community Hospital, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2Consultant Emergency Medicine, District Community Hospital, Abudhabi, UAE
3Consultant Anesthesiology and Critical Care, District Community Hospital, Abudhabi, UAE
*Corresponding Author: Sunil Kumar Shivarame Gowda, Specialist Internal Medicine, District Community Hospital, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Received: July 03, 2023; Published: July 18, 2023
Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is an emerging human pulmonary pathogen that is genetically related to the respiratory syncytial virus. Over the last few decades, it has been increasingly associated with respiratory illnesses. Human metapneumovirus is a non-segmented single negative-stranded RNA-enveloped virus classified in the Pneumovirinae subfamily of the Paramyxoviridae family. Given the close relationship between hMPV and Avian pneumovirus (APV), it was speculated that hMPV might have originated from birds [1]. HMPV infection can affect all age groups and the symptoms range from mild infection affecting the upper and lower respiratory tracts to wheezing, bronchiolitis, and pneumonia, which can be life-threatening. Thus, hospitalization, supplemental oxygen, and mechanical ventilation may be necessary for severe hMPV infections [1,2]. Immunocompromised patients are particularly susceptible to this infection with resultant morbidity and mortality. Ribavirin (oral and aerosolized) with IVIG is a potentially effective treatment option for those with severe disease.
The present case reports are regarding two pregnant women who had respiratory distress in association with a positive respiratory panel PCR for hMPV. Both of them had developed clinical features suggestive of pulmonary edema and respiratory distress, requiring oxygen and anti-failure treatment. It was later superimposed by bacterial pneumonia. These case reports show that hMPV can also be an important cause of severe respiratory illness in pregnant women.
Keywords: Human Metapneumovirus (hMPV); Avian Pneumovirus (APV); Women
Citation: Sunil Kumar Shivarame Gowda., et al. “A Case of Human Meta-pneumovirus Infection in Pregnancy Involving Superimposed Bacterial Pneumonia and Respiratory Distress”.Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 7.8 (2023): 135-138.
Copyright: © 2023 Sunil Kumar Shivarame Gowda., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.