Human metapneumovirus

Human metapneumovirus is a negative-sense single-stranded RNA virus of the family Pneumoviridae and is closely related to the Avian metapneumovirus (AMPV) subgroup C. It was isolated for the first time in 2001 in the Netherlands by using the RAP-PCR technique for identification of unknown viruses growing in cultured cells. As of 2016, it was the second most common cause of acute respiratory tract illness in otherwise-healthy children under the age of 5 in a large US outpatient clinic.