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00:0050 years and it has not changed much, Corona changed a lot in 3 years, almost 10 to 15
00:16times it changed, this virus has not changed.
00:19It is so common that everybody is going to get it by the age of 5 years, it will come
00:23in the form of just cough, cold and fever and you will get better, unless your immunity
00:27is very low, that person will have a little more severe illness, even the death rates
00:32are among the lowest of any viral illnesses.
00:34So as you are talking about this is a 50 years old virus, why people are worried about this,
00:40is there because of the media or some other reasons?
00:44I think media is something, some tool that we should use to pass on the correct information,
00:53but what has happened with social media channels, it is very easy for information to pass and
00:58we know that lot of families have suffered during the lockdown, lot of people have lost
01:02family members due to Covid, so it is very natural, in Hindi there is a saying, something
01:10like that has happened, virus is coming from China and lot of patients are allowed there
01:16and it is a virus, so that is why people are scared, so I would appeal to media rather
01:20than blaming the media that spread this information that this virus is nothing like Covid, it
01:26gets better in 7 to 10 days, Covid took longer, Covid more patients required ventilation and
01:31there is something known as long Covid.
01:33This once your patient has had it and in 10 days he is better, the patient will not have
01:37any problems, some adults may also get an infection, but generally they are more or
01:41less protected.
01:42As you mentioned adults and as well as the child, so we are seeing that many cases in
01:47the children and as well as the older people, so why this HMPV spreading among them?
01:54It is not spreading, that is the incorrect word to use because studies have happened
01:59even in India in 2004, 2007 and as late as 2022 also, even when Covid was present, almost
02:0610% of the cases were of HMPV, so it is not spreading, even today if we check 100 children
02:12who have a cough, cold or who have some respiratory illness, 10 to 15% will be positive, we are
02:18not testing because this illness gets better, so child comes to our OPD, we give him medicines
02:23just for what he has, his cough, cold, fever and he gets better, so why would we test him
02:28unnecessarily?
02:29So if we start testing every child, we will get more and more, that is why you are getting
02:33these reports of positive testing and also the other reason children are being seen is
02:38like I said by 10 years, everybody gets exposed, so one year old child, for him everything
02:43is new, so that child is getting exposed plus if you have a child who is born a little underweight
02:49or a preterm child, so when they go home, they are more vulnerable, so that is why you
02:52see it more in children.
02:53If we talk about the GJ hospital, so what are the preparedness in hospital, if we see
03:00HMPV virus in this hospital?
03:03Like I said, HMPV is common, so if we get 4 or 5 cases of HMPV, we are not going to
03:08do anything different because it was always been there, if they have any severe illness,
03:13then like any other severe respiratory illness, if they require oxygen or ventilation, we
03:17will be giving it which is always a protocol, we have a disaster ward which can be opened
03:22at any time with a 5 to 10 minute warning but right now, we do not see the need for
03:27a separate OPD or a separate ward but we are strictly following the directions of the central
03:32government, the health ministry of Maharashtra and medical education minister, Mr. Mushrif's
03:37instructions.
03:38How the precautions are as safe as the COVID for HMPV?
03:43Precautions in the sense because it is not a very severe illness and it spreads very
03:47easily, so we do not have to take much precautions but like you take for any respiratory illness,
03:52suppose I have a cough cold fever, then it is my responsibility to if I am sneezing or
03:57coughing to cover my nose and mouth, I cannot sneeze right on you, you are definitely going
04:01to get it, even if you get it, it would not be a very severe infection but why should
04:05I give it to you because you may give it to somebody who is immunocompromised and that
04:09person may suffer, so whether it is for COVID or whether it is for HMPV, the instructions
04:14are the same for any respiratory or droplet borne infections would always have the same
04:19instructions.
04:20If we talk about HMPV, the news is coming from China, people are panicking, we are seeing
04:36cases in India as well, what would you like to say about this virus?
04:41No, people are panicking, if you see in other countries, if you see the media there, then
04:45the panic situation is not visible anywhere, I know of doctors, colleagues or form of batch
04:51mates who are working in all countries of the world, so what has happened in our country
04:56is that a lot of families have been affected by COVID.