XBB.1.5 is the first recombinant COVID variant expected to become dominant in the United States, according to the viral surveillance company Helix. It is too early to know whether EU.1.1 will lead to new or different symptoms in the U.S. Four weeks ago, the XBB.1.5 variant caused less than 10% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. , are paying attention. Updated on: June 26, 2023 / 5:54 PM New variants arent surprising, he says. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital Importantly, people need to start taking antiviral drugs within five days of developing symptoms, Lall said. It's still early and there are a lot of unknowns about XBB.1.5, he said. "Reinfection buys you additional risk," he said. If you got a bivalent booster when it was first available, should you be considering another booster now? The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that slightly less than 10% of new COVID-19 cases in the United States involve the XBB 1.16 strain, with the vast majority of . The CDC presented data on a conference call last week supporting that contention, said Dr. William Schaffner, medical director for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. What do we know about new COVID variant XBB.1.5? At the beginning of last month XBB.1.5 accounted for 40 percent of Covid cases in the USA. Both the WHO and the CDC classified it as a "variant of concern.". Contact Karen Weintraub at kweintraub@usatoday.com. On Saturday, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he agrees with the World Health Organization that the virus is no longer a global threat. If authorized, the company said it would be ready with vaccine supplies for the fall and the start of the respiratory virus season.After the meeting, Novavax said i it would also be ready for the fall with its updated vaccine. You might have heard of an Omicron subvariant called XBB that swept through Singapore last fall. The latest variant, called XBB.1.5, grew exponentially over the month of December, from about 1% of cases nationwide to 27% as of Jan. 7, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Current recommendations for mitigation measures, such as wearing a mask, social distancing, testing, and more, are available on the CDCs website. Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation & Research at the FDA, countered with a practical argument, noting that even if variants change more frequently than every 12 months, vaccine makers and health officials would need time to both test candidates in animals and in the lab for safety and efficacy, and to manufacture sufficient numbers of doses. 'Not something that should be majorly concerning' local medical experts react to new COVID-19 variant, Hoeven wants HHS Sec. A PCR test, which is considered the gold standard for diagnosing COVID-19, can remain positive for months because it detects viral fragments as well as the whole, infectious virus. Paxlovid is still working very well, particularly in high-risk populations, but its not being prescribed as frequently as it should be. This marks the first time the vaccines will not include the original strain of COVID-19. "It's spreading pretty rapidly and it's the most contagious Omicron variant yet," Lall said. We already have this email. T cell-based immunity is the reason why people with prior exposure to the virus are still largely protected from severe disease, hospitalization, and death, even if they may not still have appreciable levels of antibodies against the latest variants. Glyndon Woman Killed in Crash With Semi In Rural Clay County, Carson Wentz Under Fire For Black Bear Hunt, Laser pointed at Sanford Airmed Helicopter, FAA investigating. Unfortunately, monoclonal antibodies no longer work. XBB.1.5 is a descendent of that strain. data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Why doctors struggle to identify treatments for long COVID. Older adults are more vulnerable, Al-Aly said, "but it doesn't mean younger people are totally shielded." Why the XBB.1.5 COVID variant is spreading across the US so quickly. Copyright 2023 HealthDay. Cannon said people sometimes get annoyed at her mask-wearing"because it's like I'm reminding them that (COVID) is still a problem." The new strain also took two evolutionary steps instead of just one, gaining a mutation for immune evasion as well as an unsuppressed ability to bind to and infect human cells, Helix said in its report. Also, experts still dont know enough about who is at risk for Long COVID, a condition marked by sometimes serious symptoms that can continue long after the infection is cleared. Unfortunately, were here to remind you that the virus is still very much alive and well. One remedy for the symptoms of pink eye, including eye pain and swelling, is to apply a moist washcloth to the affected eye. Could the the Higher Education Act lead to loan forgiveness? COVID variant Arcturus pink eye: Symptoms and treatment, explained Its important to remember that there will still be people who are at high risk for serious disease because they are older or immunocompromised, and they risk infection from those who arent taking mitigation measures, he says. While the committee voted to update the vaccine to include an XBB variant, the experts were still divided over how often the COVID-19 vaccine should be given in the U.S. XBB.1.16, a subvariant of the Omicron variant of. Despite some anecdotal reports, health officials have said there's little evidence of previous variants leading to changes in COVID-19's effects. It will take time to gather the long-term data to show how well vaccines work against XBB.1.5. CDC: XBB.1.16, or Arcturus, Responsible for 15% of New COVID-19 Cases How Bad Is Wildfire Smoke for Your Health? However, were not seeing this variant cause the same type of surges in overall cases that omicron did when it entered the population last winter. [Originally published:January 18, 2023. COVID-19: What to Know About New 'Arcturus' Strain - Healthline Another study he is working onshows Paxlovid reduces the risk by 26%. "I don't think it causes more complications than previous strains.". But if your kid has been exposed to the virus or have other . They also teach T-cells -- the memory cells of the immune system -- what the COVID virus looks like, so the body can mount a defense following infection. The omicron subvariant XBB.1.16, known as "Arcturus," has been listed by the WHO as a variant under monitoring since March 22. XBB.1.16, or arcturus, was the . We need to continue to define who those at highest risk of severe disease are,including the elderly and those who are immunocompromisedand who may benefit from a booster, and not make this a recommendation for everybody for every season. Not everyone will necessarily benefit from a booster, he said. "It's the most contagious COVID-19 variant that we've had so far.". The latest is called XBB.1.5 (nicknamed "Kraken," by some), and it's another descendent of the Omicron variant. A high temperature - once one of the most prevalent Covid symptoms . New COVID-19 strain: What to know about 'Arcturus' - Medical News Today Some people who had a mild case with a first infection get hit harder the second or third time, while others might suffer less. XBB.1.16 is the next largest, at 19.9% of circulating viruses. Second is wearing a mask. In the first months of 2022, an Omicron subvariant called BA.2 began to spread even fasterthan other Omicron subvariants, followed by BA.4 and BA.5, only to be outdone by the BQ subvariants. "It's part of the bigger dance between our bodies and our immune system," Cannon said. Those individuals are more susceptible to infection and severe disease. Want to win the ultimate East London staycation. The decision about who should get vaccinated, and how often, will fall to the CDCs immunization committee, which will meet once the FDA makes a final decision based on the panels recommendation to update the COVID-19 vaccine. Laboratories in Utah have sequenced the most EU.1.1 infections of any state, with nearly 100 cases of EU.1.1 reported by the state's public health laboratory to global virus databases. The variant is a more distant descendant of the XBB.1.5 variant that had surged earlier this year, with a handful of more mutations to its spike protein that may be driving its spread. Four weeks ago, the XBB.1.5 variant caused less than 10% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. Now it causes more than 25% of them. One reason may be that the possibility of a Paxlovid rebound has caused some patients to be leery of taking the drug. Both XBB and the Kraken version (XBB.1.5) are recombinant (or hybrid) virus subvariants, meaning they are made up of two strainsin this case, two offshoots of the Omicron BA.2 sublineage. FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a new variant for COVID-19 has made its way to the Midwest. Vaccine Equality vs Equity with Dr. Jacinda Abdul-Mutakabbir, COVID-19, Herpes, and Flu Virus Easily Susceptible to Soap, Vaccine Inequity With Dr. Leonard Friedland, Moderna Files for FDA Authorization for This Years COVID-19 Vaccine, Comparing the Long-Term Health Effects After COVID-19, Influenza, and Sepsis Hospitalization, | Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI). During the VRBPAC meeting it was decided to recommend the vaccines be monovalent and contain proteins protecting against the XBB lineage.For all the COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers (Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax) this will allow them the ability to update their vaccines. This article was updated on January 9, 2023, to reflect updated CDC data. Of the 3, Moderna was the first to apply for authorization of the vaccine for the upcoming seasonal respiratory virus season. As new variants have emerged, the first question has been how transmissible each one is compared to its predecessor. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID variant tracking in the United States. And the advantage that a new variant has over the previous strain may or may not make it better or worse for human beings.". Nesemeier says that medical groups across the nation learned a lot because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and are now prepared if another outbreak was to occur. While there is more to learn about the latest variants, experts are hoping prior immunity will be of some help. It's a good idea to have a plan ready in case you get sick, Cannon said. April 13, 2023 While COVID-19 rates in the U.S. are relatively low and are declining, the World Health Organization ( WHO) is keeping an eye on a new COVID-19 variant. But overall, XBB.1.5 is the predominant strain in the country now, having risen to 75% of infections nationally in mid-February from less than 2% in December. A new COVID variant, marking a fusion between two recent strains that is even more contagious than its predecessors, is beginning to take hold in the U.S., but what exactly is it, how serious. It is believed that both strains infected one person and mixed to form the hybrid XBB, which spawned additional mutations. Jun 26, 2023. "In my neck of the woods, it's probably four out of five at least," said Dr. Aaron Glatt, chief of infectious disease at Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside, N.Y. This strain appears to lead to higher . XBB.1.5: What you need to know about COVID-19's 'Kraken' variant The XBB.1.5 virus has quickly become a higher percentage of total COVID cases in the United States. A New COVID-19 Variant Emerges - contagionlive.com The thing that we would most be concerned about, is this going to cause an uptick in hospitalizations, said Brenton Nesemeier, the Dir. People should continue to be careful," Dr. Rupp says. A consortium of academic and federal modelers recently projected that the U.S. would likely continue to see lulls in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths during the warmer months of at least the next two years, with subsequent peaks during the fall and winter unlikely to surpass previous records. She suggests every plan include: Every U.S. household is eligible for four free coronavirus tests from the government that can be ordered from this link:covid.gov/tests. Below them is XBB.2.3, at 10.6% nationwide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also revamping its website in order to streamline information and make it easier for visitors to use. In early 2023, a new Omicron subvariant called XBB.1.5, the most transmissible strain of the virus so far, was predominant in the U.S. Cases were also believed to be rising with people spending more time in doors and attending recent holiday gatherings, with fewer wearing masks and taking other mitigation measures. Here are the top ten symptoms reported by Zoe users in the past month: Sore throat - 57.3 percent Blocked nose - 57.8 percent Runny nose - 55.5 percent Sneezing - 52 percent Cough with no phlegm. The jury is still out on whether XBB.1.5 makes people sicker following infection, leading to hospitalizations and death, the experts said. It may feel like history is repeating itself with yet another strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus driving up cases of COVID-19 . June 26, 2023 -- The CDC is watching a new COVID-19 subvariant called EU.1.1 that has infected people in some northwestern states. A respiratory virus can put the immune system on high alert and might have provided some protection when she was exposed to COVID-19. U.S. Intelligence Report Finds No Clear Evidence of Covid Origins in While many public-health experts had predicted that any vaccines following the initial shots first developed and deployed at the end of 2020 might be more effective if they generated protection against more than one strain of the virus, the committee saw studies from the three vaccine makers showing that prototype shots tested in animals that targeted two XBB strains did not produce appreciably higher levels of antibodies to neutralize the major XBB viruses than shots that targeted only one XBB strain. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, What You Need to Know About XBB.1.5, the Latest Omicron Variant. He notes that many of these are not specific to covid-19 and could also be a manifestation of other viral illnesses. Stay informed on the latest news on health and COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. "There was not one virologist I know of, including myself, not one of us thought we would see anything other than Delta subvariants," Poland said. So we arent really seeing anything out of the norm but it might be to early to tell.. "The virus is now in this committed lineage," Cannon said, which might mean it won't evolve away from the protection against serious disease thatnearly everyone now hasfrom vaccinations and previous infections. Paxlovid and some other antiviral treatments, like remdesivir, are expected to be effective against XBB.1.5, Dr. Roberts says. The second question has been whether Omicron and its subvariants are more likely than their predecessors to cause severe disease. Third is avoiding crowded indoor spaces. Like previous versions of the virus, it has been described as the most transmissible strain so far, more efficient and contagious than its predecessorswhich is unsurprising given how mutations work. What You Need to Know About XBB.1.5, the Latest Omicron Variant
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