Virus found in 2001 hospitalizes kids at same rate as flu

A respiratory virus that was unknown to doctors until 2001, and has no treatment, causes the same severity of illness in young children as the flu, according to the largest study to estimate the infection’s U.S. prevalence. The research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that one of every 1,000 children under age 5 is hospitalized each year because of human metapneumovirus, the same rate as that for flu. MPV also occurs during the winter like flu and shares the same symptoms, the study said. The virus, which can lead to bronchitis and pneumonia, is often misdiagnosed because there is no quick test to distinguish it from flu and other respiratory viruses, said senior study author John Williams. There’s no vaccine or drug against the virus, and children often are given antibiotics or flu medicines by mistake, he said. “We’re still learning so much about disease,” said Williams, an associate...