Dr Kiran Madhala, professor of critical care medicine at Gandhi Medical College, explained, “HMPV is a single-stranded, negative-sense RNA virus classified within the Pneumoviridae family.

The genomes of all influenza viruses are composed of eight single-stranded RNA segments (Figure 1). These RNAs are negative-sense molecules, meaning that they must be copied into positive-sense ...

HMPV, belonging to the Pneumoviridae, Metapneumovirus genus, is an enveloped single-stranded negative-sense RNA virus. It mostly causes upper respiratory tract infections — like colds.

The RNA must be converted to positive-sense RNA by a viral enzyme called RNA polymerase before translation into protein can occur. Viruses that have negative-sense RNA genomes include influenza and ...