Human metapneumovirus pneumonia: Case report

Although human metapneumovirus (hMPV), which was first described in 2001, may be isolated in upper and lower airway infections of children less than 10 years of age, to our knowledge, many studies about this virus have been published in our country up to now. Real time - polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method is the gold standart diagnostic test for hMPV. Rapid and effective use of advanced diagnostic methods such as PCR in the differential diagnosis of viral/bacterial pneumonia in patients admitted with the clinical and laboratory findings of pneumonia would help to preclude inappropriate use of antibiotics and thus enable administration of appropriate antiviral treatment in indicated cases. In this article, an 18-month-old patient admitted with the findings of respiratory distress and oxygen requirement and in whom hMPV was detected as infectious agent is presented, and it is emphasized that hMPV, as a rarely isolated and relatively recently described virus in comparison to classical airway viruses, may be encountered as an etiologic agent in respiratory tract infections of children less than 2 years of age.