symptoms of HMPV<\/a> are a lot like those of the flu or common cold \u2014 cough, fever, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches and headache, the World Health Organization said.<\/p>\nLess common symptoms can include voice changes, eye or ear infection and a rash that comes and goes, the Mayo Clinic said.<\/p>\n
Symptoms usually go away in two to five days, WebMD said. If they last more than two weeks, contact your doctor.<\/p>\n
What are the complications of human metapneumovirus?<\/p>\n
While most people recover fairly quickly from HMPV, people with weakened immune system or other medical conditions, or who are very young or old, are more likely to suffer serious illness, the Mayo Clinic said.<\/p>\n
Possible complications can include croup, pneumonia, asthma attacks, middle ear infections, bronchiolitis and fever, the CDC said.<\/p>\n
How does human metapneumovirus spread?<\/p>\n
The virus mainly spreads from contact with infected people, WebMD said.<\/p>\n
You also can be exposed by touching contaminated surfaces, touching your nose, mouth or eyes after touching infected surfaces, droplets sprayed by coughs or sneezes from an infected person, or shaking hands or touching an infected person.<\/p>\n
How can you prevent human metapneumovirus?<\/p>\n
There is no vaccine for HMPV, the Mayo Clinic said, but you can take steps to try to avoid infections.<\/p>\n
Wash your hands regularly, don\u2019t touch your face, clean surfaces and avoid infected people, the site said.<\/p>\n
How do you treat human metapneumovirus?<\/p>\n
There are no antiviral treatments for HMPV, the CDC said.<\/p>\n
The agency advises people with human metapneumovirus to drink plenty of liquids, stay home and rest.<\/p>\n
How can you tell human metapneumovirus from other illnesses?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is hard to tell different respiratory illnesses apart as they have similar symptoms such as fever, cough, runny nose and congestion,\u201c the World Health Organization said.<\/p>\n
But the treatment can differ, especially for people with the flu or COVID-19, which can be treated with antiviral medications. Doctors may rule out these diagnoses with tests.<\/p>\n
Loading\u2026<\/p>\n
This story was originally published March 3, 2026 at 11:11 AM.<\/p>\n
Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
Don Sweeney<\/a><\/p>\n The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
Don Sweeney has been a newspaper reporter and editor in California for more than 35 years. He is a service reporter based at The Sacramento Bee.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not COVID-19 or the flu, but a respiratory virus has been hammering Northern California cities including Sacramento…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":631137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[11],"tags":[24745,210,268221,27951,22875,67,132,68,13203],"class_list":["post-631136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-davis","tag-health","tag-human-metapneumovirus","tag-northern-california","tag-sacramento","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-virus"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116169868057193870","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}