Jide Idris: HMPV not a new virus… no serious threat to Nigeria for now

Jide Idris, director-general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), says the country is not under serious threat of the human metapneumovirus (HMPV). 

HMPV, which was first reported in 2001 in the Netherlands, is a single-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus that causes symptoms similar to the common cold and influenza, including cough, fever, nasal congestion, and fatigue, with an incubation period of three to six days.

China is currently experiencing an outbreak of the virus, sparking global concern.

Speaking on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ on Thursday, Idris said although there have been concerns over the outbreak of the virus in certain parts of the world, Nigeria has no cause for alarm.

“Let me say there’s no serious threat for now. That’s one. Two, this HMPV virus, it’s not a new virus. It’s just that it’s not well-known,” he said.

“But it’s been implicated in many respiratory infections over the years, over the countries, especially in children, and elderly people.

“Just like the normal flu, old virus or influenza, respiratory virus, it’s just one of those causes of respiratory problems.”

The NCDC DG said the agency is in a monitoring and alert phase and will take instructions from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“Because every country is supposed to report cases like this, any case; any problem to WHO — those things that they consider might become global problems later so that they can alert every other country to get prepared,” he added.

“That’s precisely what we are doing in Nigeria. We’ve experienced some major problems — we had Ebola and we had COVID. With those two, we developed some capabilities.

“We learned our lessons and put infrastructure in place. So we’ve got public health infrastructure.

“These are things you need to put in place in expectation of things like this so that you don’t have to start running helter-skelter.”