Life-threatening human metapneumovirus pneumonia requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in a 26-month-old child

We present the first case report of a child with human metapneumovirus (hMPV) pneumonia who survived by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in Korea. A 26-month-old boy with a previous history of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and delayed development suffered from respiratory failure after 4 days of fever, cough, and sputum. The boy underwent intubation and required ECMO application due to failure of conventional mechanical ventilation. He was on the ECMO support for 7 days. To our knowledge, this is the shortest period reported for ECMO application among successfully treated patients with hMPV infection accompanied by acute respiratory distress syndrome. This case highlights 2 clinical implications: the potentially fatal causative role of hMPV in respiratory failure in a pediatric population and the timely utilization of ECMO.ope