Respiratory viruses are responsible for at least 47.2% of LRTI requiring hospitalization at our hospital. Respiratory syncytial virus was the most important respiratory agent identified.

The human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a recently described respiratory RNA virus that mainly affects children. To date there has not been a report that describes the detection of this virus in Mexico. This study was performed to detect hMPV in hospitalized Mexican children with respiratory infections, and describe their epidemiological and clinical characteristics. Nasal wash samples from 558 children younger than 3 years of age with the admission diagnosis of a respiratory tract infection were evaluated. Respiratory viruses were detected in 221 children The clinical presentation of an hMPV infection was indistinguishable from other respiratory infections. Except for one death, the outcomes of the hMPV infections were good. In this study, among the viruses routinely tested for, hMPV was the second most common agent, after RSV, in children younger than 3 years of age hospitalized with respiratory tract infections.

Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is an important cause of acute respiratory infections (ARI). We studied 335 ARI episodes in 74 children<5 years of age attending a day care center during a 1-year period to detect the presence of hMPV and other viruses. Seven (9.5%) children were infected by hMPV and this virus accounted for 2.1% of the ARI episodes.