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The paper briefly characterizes human metapneumovirus, a newly discovered pathogen of acute respiratory infections, and gives brief clinical, virological, and pathological data concerning a fatal outcome of a 51-year-old obese woman without severe background pathology. Metapneumovirus infection has been verified by real-time PCR. Morphological examination revealed the signs of subtotal diffuse alveolar damage, ciliary epithelial cell overgrowths, and binucleated macrophages. The changes revealed in the lungs are similar to those as previously described in paramyxovirus infections, but are accompanied by severe nonspecific changes that have been recently observed in swine influenza. Those in the brain meninges, kidneys, pancreas, and intestine may be suggestive of the generalization of the infection. It has been proposed that the properties of the virus may vary.

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