Children hospitalized for surgery without respiratory symptoms were used as controls. hMPV was detected in 5.8% of the 208 children hospitalized for ARTI, compared to 51% for RSV and 21.6% for influenza A; no virus was detected in 29.8% of symptomatic patients and 6.8% had more than one pathogen including one case of coinfection with hMPV and influenza A.