SARS-CoV-2/COVID related discussion

[Yommie]

New COVID Subvariant LB.1 on the Rise in U.S., Experts Say Vaccination Is Still Key

A new COVID-19 subvariant may fuel more summer cases in the U.S.

www.verywellhealth.com

What to Know About the LB.1 COVID-19 Variant​

By John Loeppky
Published on July 02, 2024
Fact checked by Nick Blackmer

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Photo Illustration by Michela Buttignol for Verywell Health; Getty Images

Key Takeaways​

• LB.1 is the latest COVID-19 subvariant to emerge in the U.S.
• Current rapid tests and treatments like Paxlovid are still effective, and updated vaccines in the fall should offer sufficient protection.

An emerging COVID-19 subvariant named LB.1 now makes up 17.5% of new cases in the United States and is on track to surpass KP.2 and KP.3.

Bernadette Boden-Albala, DrPH, MPH, director of the public health program at UC Irvine, said that the public should expect similar symptoms from LB.1, an Omicron offshoot, as its predecessors.

“There is no evidence today that the LB.1 variant is causing different or more severe symptoms compared to past variants. The real difference is on an individual’s immunity either built up by maintaining adherence with booster vaccines or a combination of past COVID-19 infections,” Boden-Albala told Verywell.

William Schaffner, MD, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said LB.1 is likely to play a part in the summer surge of COVID.

“Now that we have LB.1 out there and KP.3 still circulating, they are fueling the summer increase that we’re starting to see in many states,” Schaffner told Verywell. “It abates in the fall, and then we have a more substantial increase in the winter.”

A preprint study in Japan suggests that LB.1 may be more infectious and better at evading immunity than KP.2 due to a mutation called S:S31del.1

Because of the rapidly changing variant landscape, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked vaccine manufacturers to target KP.2 instead of JN.1 for the fall COVID vaccine update, if possible. Health experts say that the updated vaccine will offer enough protection against LB.1 even if it doesn’t target this variant specifically.

Schaffner said Paxlovid, the antiviral medication for COVID, will still work against new variants. However, older adults, pregnant people, and those people who have underlying conditions are still at the highest risk of severe illness from COVID.

Boden-Albala added that wastewater surveillance is helpful in providing “an early warning” to communities that may be seeing spikes in cases, although the data could sometimes change in less than a week. Vaccination and ongoing public health measures will manage the impact of COVID, she said, but “surges will remain commonplace.”

“Continuous vigilance, vaccination updates, and adaptive health strategies will be essential in coexisting with the virus,” Boden-Albala said.

 

[Yommie]

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/covid-strains-kp3-california-19554018.php

New COVID-19 variants slamming California seem to have 'slight edge'​

Here's what's different about them​

By Ariana Bindman, News Features Reporter July 3, 2024


FILE: A positive COVID-19 rapid test.
Massimiliano Finzi/Getty Images
If you’re starting to feel like you’re coming down with a cold, it’s probably time to dust off your rapid test and give your nose a swab. Amid devastating wildfires, a barrage of new COVID-19 variants are slamming the state of California, and they don’t show any signs of retreating.

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The trifecta of summer travel, Fourth of July celebrations and extreme heat has forced people to closely intermingle, giving the virus the perfect opportunity to multiply, Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases specialist at UCSF, told SFGATE. As a result, California has more viral wastewater than most of the nation. It’s not the only state struggling with rising cases, though: Across the country, there’s been a 23.3% increase in ER visits, and a 14.3% increase in deaths due to COVID-19 compared to the week prior.
Three variants — KP.3, KP.2, and KP.1.1 — are partly to blame. They started showing up at the end of last year and now account for about 60% of positive cases in the U.S., Chin-Hong said, and they’ve since become the dominant strains in California.
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On the whole, these new variants don’t make people sicker, Chin-Hong said. The chances of getting seriously ill are much lower for those who aren’t elderly or immunocompromised, but those who are still face the most risk.
“The not-so-good news is that the reason why they’re rising to the top of the charts is because they probably have a slight edge in two things,” he said.
First, they’re more transmissible, Chin-Hong said, and second, “they’re a little bit more slippery, or immune evasive.”
For instance, if you were previously infected with KP’s parent strain, JN.1, you developed antibodies for that particular strain. But these newer variants, which might be a bit more “disguised,” are able to slip past the body’s defenses, he continued. The fact that fewer people are getting up-to-date vaccines is giving them even more of a leg up, he said — just 14.9% of California’s population has gotten at least one dose, the California Department of Public Health website shows.
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Additionally, because the summer swell started a month earlier than most previous summer swells, according to CDPH data, Chin-Hong predicts it will descend ahead of schedule.
“It’s just so disruptive to everyone, more than making people sick,” Chin-Hong said. “But some people are still getting sick, and that’s what we’re trying to prevent.”

 

[Yommie]

‘Visionary’ study finds inflammation, evidence of Covid virus years after infection

A "visionary" new study finds inflammation and evidence of the Covid virus years after initial infection.

www.statnews.com

‘Visionary’ study finds inflammation, evidence of Covid virus years after infection​

• 

By Isabella Cueto July 3, 2024
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SARS-CoV-2 infected cellsALBERTO DOMINGO LOPEZ-MUNOZ, LABORATORY OF VIRAL DISEASES, NIAID/NIH
Remember when we thought Covid was a two-week illness? So does Michael Peluso, assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

He recalls the rush to study acute Covid infection, and the crush of resulting papers. But Peluso, an HIV researcher, knew what his team excelled at: following people over the long term.

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So they adapted their HIV research infrastructure to study Covid patients. The LIINC program, short for “Long-term Impact of Infection with Novel Coronavirus,” started in San Francisco at the very beginning of the pandemic. By April 2020, the team was already seeing patients come in with lingering illness and effects of Covid — in those early days still unnamed and unpublicized as long Covid. They planned to follow people’s progress for three months after they were infected with the virus.

By the fall, the investigators had rewritten their plans. Some people’s symptoms were so persistent, Peluso realized they had to follow patients for longer. Research published Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine builds on years of that data. In some cases, the team followed patients up to 900 days, making it one of the longest studies of long Covid (most studies launched in 2021 or 2022, including the NIH-funded RECOVER program).

Investigators found long-lasting immune activation months and even years after infection. And, even more concerning, they report what looked like lingering SARS-CoV-2 virus in participants’ guts. Even those who’d had Covid but no continuing symptoms had different results than those who’d never been infected.

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Related: Listen: Why Long Covid can feel scarier than a gun to the head​

The team’s big idea — hypothesizing in early 2020 that, contrary to the popular narrative, Covid would last in the body — was “visionary,” long Covid researcher Ziyad Al-Aly said. “A lot of people don’t think like that.” Al-Aly was not involved with the study, but has published other long-term studies of Covid patients. He is chief of research and development at the VA Saint Louis Healthcare System.

The research makes use of novel technology developed by the paper’s senior authors, Henry Vanbrocklin, professor in the department of radiology at UCSF, and associate professor of medicine Timothy Henrich. They figured out in the last several years they could use an antibody that bound to HIV’s code protein as a guide to see viral reservoirs. The HIV antibody, labeled with radioactive isotopes, could be tracked with imaging as it moved through the body and migrated to infected tissues.

There were no antibodies to latch onto early in the coronavirus pandemic. Vanbrocklin instead used a chemical agent, called F-AraG, that binds to activated T cells — immune cells that flood into infected tissues. They injected F-AraG into patients, and into a scan they went.

Tissues full of activated T cells glowed in the resulting image. Researchers found more glowing sites of immune activation in people who had been infected with Covid than in those who had not, including: the brain stem, spinal cord, cardiopulmonary tissues, bone marrow, upper pharynx, chest lymph nodes, and gut wall.

In people with long Covid symptoms, like brain fog and fatigue, the study found the gut wall and spinal cord lit up more than in other participants. People with continuing pulmonary symptoms showed greater immune activation in their lungs. Gut biopsies in five participants revealed what appears to be persistent virus, said Peluso, who is part of the LongCovid Research Consortium of the PolyBio Research Foundation (which helped fund the study).

Related: ‘Concern is real’ about long Covid’s impact on Americans and disability claims, report says​

“The data are striking,” said Akiko Iwasaki, a professor of immunobiology and long Covid researcher at Yale University. Iwasaki was not involved in the study but is also part of PolyBio’s long Covid research group.

Researchers used pre-pandemic scans as a control group, “the cleanest comparison that there is, before anybody on the planet could’ve possibly had this virus,” Peluso said. There were 30 participants in total (24 who’d had Covid, and six controls). Uninfected participants showed some T cell activation, but it showed up in parts of the body that help clear inflammation, like the kidney and liver. In the post-Covid group, immune activation was widespread, even in those who report that they are back to their normal health.

The data don’t explain what exactly T cells are reacting to. As Iwasaki noted, activated T cells can be responding to persistent SARS-CoV-2 antigens or autoantigens found in people with autoimmune disease. The immune response could also be to antigens coming from other pathogens, like the common Epstein-Barr Virus. This piece requires more study, she said.

In the gut, the researchers found what they think is RNA that encodes the virus’s signature spike protein. Other studies have found similar pieces of virus in autopsies, or within a couple of months after infection. Peluso’s work suggests the virus may stay in the body much longer — up to years after infection.

The researchers don’t know if what they’re seeing is “fossilized” leftover virus or active, productive virus. But they found double-stranded RNA in the guts of some patients who underwent biopsy. That should technically only be there if a virus is still alive, going through its life cycle, Peluso said.

Related: Long Covid research gets a big-time funding boost​

Scientists and patient advocates have been suspicious for a while of the gut reservoir post-Covid. This new data may add fuel to the idea that SARS-CoV-2 stays in some people’s guts for a long time and could actually be driving long Covid. Or, on the other hand, it could mean our immune response is failing to clear the virus and leaving behind little pieces (which might not be harmful). There are still a lot of questions, Peluso admitted. But the paper undermines the paradigm that declares Covid infection disappears after two weeks, and long Covid is just residual damage.

The findings also suggest a need for more aggressive evaluation of immunomodulating therapies, and treatments that target leftover virus.

Most researchers hunting for a long Covid biomarker have turned to the blood or small pieces of tissue as surrogates for what’s happening inside a patient. With the new imaging technique, Peluso and his team can see a full person on their screen — a patient’s phantom figure and gauzy organs covered in splotches of light. “It’s really striking,” he said. “‘Oh, my goodness, this is happening in someone’s spinal cord, or their GI tract, or their heart wall, or their lungs.’”

For patients like Ezra Spier, a member of the LIINC cohort who’s had imaging done after the period captured in this latest study, the experience was validating. Finally, the life-changing experience of long Covid had become visible. “I can now see with my own eyes the kind of dysfunction going on throughout my own body,” said Spier, who created a website for long Covid patients to more easily find clinical trials near them.

Most participants had been infected with a pre-Omicron variant of the virus, and one person had repeat infections throughout the study period. Two participants had been hospitalized during their initial bout of Covid, but neither one received intensive care. A half-dozen patients in the study reported zero long Covid symptoms, but still showed elevated levels of immune activation.

Related: Could long Covid’s signs of immune dysregulation in the blood lead to a diagnostic test?​

The paper does not explain what the sites of infection mean for symptoms, and immune activation in a particular organ doesn’t correspond to symptoms (for example, a gut full of T cells doesn’t necessarily match with GI problems). More studies are needed to figure out what the glowing spots mean for patients’ experience of long Covid.

And the scans don’t work as a diagnostic. In other words, patients shouldn’t rush to San Francisco (Peluso’s group only accepts study participants from the area). The imaging technique isn’t available to the general public, either. F-AraG is still being studied in this context.

But Peluso and Vanbrocklin said imaging could be a major tool in figuring out long Covid. They’ve expanded their research program to do imaging on about 50 additional patients. They are also scanning people before and after they receive different long Covid clinical trial interventions to see if there’s a change in immune activity.

 

[Yommie]

Do hospital masks mean Covid is making a comeback?

Some hospitals in the West Midlands are reintroducing masks due to a rise in cases of Covid-19.

www.bbc.com

Do hospital masks mean Covid is making a comeback?​

18 hours ago
By Dr David Gregory Kumar, BBC Midlands Today Science Correspondent
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Getty Images
Face mask rules have been reintroduced at acute hospitals in Worcestershire
Some hospitals have reintroduced mask wearing after a spike in patients being admitted with Covid-19, so should we be worried the virus is making a comeback?
Since Monday, patients, visitors and staff are required to wear masks in clinical areas at the Royal Stoke University Hospital and County Hospital in Stafford.
In Worcestershire, the Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said the measure was necessary "to protect patients, their loved ones and hospital staff from risk of infection" .
They are currently treating 65 patients with Covid-19, the highest number since December 2023. Patients are also in hospital for longer so that would indicate they are sicker too.

In Staffordshire, there are 108 patients with the virus. At Royal Stoke Hospital two wards are currently full with Covid patients.
But it is difficult to tell if this is some sort of "summer Covid wave" because we are doing a lot less testing than we used to.
Most of the testing these days is done of hospital patients when they are admitted and yes, we are seeing a bit of an uptick, indeed it might be higher than the numbers suggest as not all new patients are tested.

Part of life​

But let's put these new cases in context.
With about 170 infected patients in the last few weeks in Staffordshire and Worcestershire that is a lot fewer than we saw at the height of the pandemic.
At the end of 2021 going in to 2022, we saw a peak in England of nearly 300,000 new cases a day and there are no signs we are even remotely close to a return to those sort of numbers.
As for what is driving this small rise in cases, well Covid-19 as a virus is constantly evolving and yes that means new variants. If you remember it was the Omicron variant that drove that huge peak of 300,000 cases.
Currently, we are seeing a descendent of that Omicron variant, JN1, dominating things and in fact, there are even newer mutations of JN1, that we are keeping an eye on collectively, called FliRT. (Flirt is an acronym that's to do with the locations of the mutations on the virus, if you are wondering.)
But, it is too early to tell if FliRT variants are driving this small increase in infection.
The truth is Covid-19 is now part of life. We will all be infected and re-infected over and over again.
For many of us, that is not likely to be a problem, but those that can, should keep getting boosted, and yes, in hospital mask wearing is something we might see more of now and again as infection rates peak.

 

[Yommie]

COVID-19 can surge throughout the year

COVID-19 peaks in the winter, like many other respiratory virus illnesses, but can also surge at oth

www.cdc.gov

JULY 3, 2024

COVID-19 can surge throughout the year​

AT A GLANCE​

Many respiratory virus illnesses peak during the winter due to environmental conditions and human behaviors. COVID-19 has peaks in the winter and also at other times of the year, including the summer, driven by new variants and decreasing immunity from previous infections and vaccinations. You can protect yourself from serious illness by staying up to date with vaccinations, getting treated if you have medical conditions that make you more likely to get very sick from COVID-19, and using other strategies outlined in CDC's respiratory virus guidance.

Summary​

What CDC knows
In the United States, respiratory virus illnesses typically peak during the fall and winter. These peaks are due to several factors, including human behaviors and environmental conditions that can affect the ability of viruses to survive and spread.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, infections with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, have peaked during the winter and also surged at other times of the year. These periodic surges are due in part to the emergence of new variants and decreasing immunity from previous infections and vaccinations. Because the evolution of new variants remains unpredictable, SARS-CoV-2 is not a typical “winter” respiratory virus.
What CDC is doing
CDC continues to monitor seasonal trends of COVID-19 and the factors driving these trends, including the emergence of new variants, and to collaborate with state and local health departments, commercial laboratories, and global partners. On June 27, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), an independent advisory group to CDC, recommended that persons ≥6 months of age receive the 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccines when they become available this fall.

Why do many respiratory viruses spread more in the winter?​

Many respiratory viruses have increased circulation during the winter. Factors that drive these seasonal patterns fall into a few broad categories:

• Environmental conditions: Temperature and humidity can affect the ability of viruses to survive and spread. Dry conditions, which are particularly common in winter, can cause water to evaporate more quickly from respiratory droplets produced by coughing or sneezing, resulting in smaller particles that last longer in the air and travel longer distances. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, survives longer in colder temperatures, and increased spread has been associated with lower fall/winter temperatures.
• Immune susceptibility:Dry and cold air interfere with the ability of the body to sweep viruses out of the upper respiratory tract, which is the first line of the immune system's defense. At the population level, protection from prior infection and vaccination wanes over time. This results in more people being susceptible in the winter when respiratory viruses are spreading the most.
• Behavioral patterns: Spending more time indoors with less ventilation during the colder months, as well as holiday gatherings and travel, can increase spread. That's because viruses spread between people more easily indoors than outdoors in part because the concentration of these particles is often higher indoors. Similar conditions can also happen in summer when people spend more time indoors, keep windows closed while using air conditioning, and travel for summer vacations.

COVID-19 seasonality​

COVID-19 activity tends to fluctuate with the seasons, meaning it has some seasonal patterns. Data from four years of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths show that COVID-19 has winter peaks (most recently in late December 2023 and early January 2024), but also summer peaks (most recently in July and August of 2023). There is no distinct COVID-19 season like there is for influenza (flu) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). While flu and RSV have a generally defined fall/winter seasonality and circulate at low levels in most parts of the United States in the summer, meaningful COVID-19 activity occurs at other times of the year.
Understanding when COVID-19 tends to peak helps to better tailor public health prevention strategies and recommendations, prepare our healthcare system, and allocate resources. That's especially important because the winter peak tends to overlap with those for flu, RSV, and many other viruses. Getting an updated COVID-19 vaccine in the fall can help better protect you through the winter peak. People who might benefit from additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine this summer include those who are:

• 65 years of age and older,
• Moderately or severely immunocompromised or with underlying medical conditions,
• Living in long-term care facilities,
• Of any age and have never received COVID-19 vaccine, and
• Pregnant, especially in late pregnancy.

CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met on June 27 and recommended that persons ≥6 months of age receive the 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccines when they become available this fall. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently selected strains for the vaccine based on currently circulating variants.

New variants affect patterns of COVID-19 activity​

The emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants has been associated with COVID-19 surges, including an increase in the magnitude of winter peaks and additional peaks at other times of the year. Peaks in COVID-19 activity often, but not exclusively, occur in winter (blue bar in chart, below) and in summer (pink bar in chart). New variants, such as Delta and Omicron, contributed to several peaks.
Although the future pace of SARS-CoV-2 evolution is unpredictable, surges outside the winter season will likely continue as long as new variants emerge and immunity from previous infections and vaccinations decreases over time.
CDC continues to track the emergence of new variants through genomic sequencing, in collaboration with state and local health departments, commercial laboratories, and global partners. CDC also continues to monitor trends in COVID-19 to inform vaccine recommendations, and to publish weekly data so that the public can make informed decisions regarding their individual risk throughout the year.

Percentage of positive SARS-CoV-2 tests reported to the National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS) -- March 2020 to June 2024​

Figure 1: Percentage of positive SARS-CoV-2 tests from March 2020 to June 2024 reported to the National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS). Peaks have been observed during winter (blue), summer (pink), and at other times throu...
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This past winter, COVID-19 peaked in early January, declined rapidly in February and March, and by May 2024 was lower than at any point since March 2020. Over the past few weeks, some surveillance systems have shown small national increases in COVID-19; widespread as well as local surges are possible over the summer months. Although COVID-19 is not the threat it once was, it is still associated with thousands of hospitalizations and hundreds of deaths each week in the United States, and can lead to Long COVID.

Protect yourself and others with practical actions​

During the summer and throughout the year, you can use many effective tools to prevent spreading COVID-19 or becoming seriously ill. CDC’s Respiratory Virus Guidance provides recommendations and information that can help people lower their risk from many common respiratory viral illnesses. These actions can help protect yourself and others from health risks caused by these viruses.
COVID-19 is here to stay, but taking simple actions will help protect you and your loved ones from infection and serious illness.

 

[Yommie]

COVID-19: The comeback nobody wanted​

 

[Yommie]

Doctors see summer spike in COVID-19 related cases​

 

[Yommie]

COVID Looks Different Now! - What Does it mean for You?​

 

[Yommie]

FLiRT was dominating COVID-19 cases, now we're already onto FLuQE

COVID-19 continues to evolve at a fast pace, with the latest highly transmissible variant, nicknamed FLuQE emerging as the dominant strain in Australia and across parts of the world.

www.abc.net.au

FLiRT was dominating COVID-19 cases, now we're onto the FLuQE subvariants​

By Annika Burgess
Posted Tue 2 Jul 2024 at 3:10pm Tuesday

A new subvariant of COVID-19 is dominating in Australia, increasing risks of re-infection.(ABC News: Jake Sturmer)
abc.net.au/news/covid-flirt-fluqe-new-variant-cases-rise-australia-us-uk/104035534
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A dominant COVID-19 strain is driving new infections across parts of the world, and is on the rise in Australia.
Not long ago, we were introduced to FLiRT, a group of subvariants that were contributing to a recent increase in cases and hospitalisations.
Now FLiRT has further mutated, and FLuQE has become the fastest growing member of the family.
While many ingredients in the variant soup are similar, there is an additional mutation experts say makes it more contagious.
And it is increasing risks of re-infection as vaccine updates lag behind how fast the virus is changing.

What is FLuQE?​

The family of highly transmissible COVID subvariants known as FLiRT have risen to dominance over the past few months.
The group includes several similar variants that usually start with KP, with KP.2 emerging as the most prominent.
KP.2 has been a key contributor to recent COVID waves.
Now, after just a few weeks, KP.3 — also known as FLuQE — has surpassed KP.2 in Australia, and sparked warnings of a summer COVID surge in the US.
It has an extra mutation researchers say makes it more infectious.
And it's that extra mutation that has led to its own catchy subvariant nickname.

Researchers say KP.3 has an additional mutation located in the spike protein that makes it more infectious.(Freepik: kjpargeter)

KP.2​

• One of several variants (KP.1, KP.2, JN.1.7) being referred to as "FLiRT variants"
• FLiRT comes from the technical names for its mutations: F456L, V1104L, R346T
• Was the prominent member of the FLiRT family, rising to dominance around April/May

KP.3​

• Has been referred to as "the successor to KP.2"
• Shares the same key FLiRT mutations, but with one additional spike protein
• That protein Q493E has led to its new subvariant nickname FLuQE
• Is now the dominant strain in several countries, including Australia

What impact is it having?​

The FLiRT family are all descendants of the JN.1 variant, which had been dominant for several months.

New COVID variant JN.1 is behind a dramatic rise in cases​

Several states have warned of another COVID wave driven by a new variant called JN.1. Why is it so infectious, and what is it doing to case numbers around Australia?

Read more
JN.1 caused a wave of infections across Australia and other parts of the world at the start of the year.
Researchers have described them all as grandchildren of Omicron.
Paul Griffin, an infectious diseases physician and clinical microbiologist at the University of Queensland, says the evolution of the variants is another indicator of how quickly the virus can change.
"What this virus has done many times, and continues to do, is that it's changed significantly," he said.
"Certainly in our country, FLuQE, or KP.3, has passed FLiRT, or KP.2.
"South Australia has led the charge, but in most parts of the country we've already transitioned to the next one after FLiRT."

In the US, KP.3 is now the dominant strain, responsible for more than 33 per cent of cases, up from less than 10 per cent in May, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

While cases are still relatively low compared to the US winter, CDC data shows an increase in COVID-19-related deaths and hospitalisations in recent weeks.
The UK is also reportedly experiencing an increase in hospitalisations with the KP.3 variant identified.
Adrian Esterman, an epidemiologist and professor of biostatistics at the University of South Australia, said when JN.1 mutated into the FLiRT subvariants, they were able to better evade our immune system.
However, they lost some ability to bind to a specific protein that allows the virus to infect human cells.
This is where FLuQE differs, and the reason why it is more infectious.
"Recently, the FLiRT subvariants have mutated further to improve binding efficiency, and these are the FLuQE subvariants, of which KP.3 is the one currently dominating," Professor Esterman told the ABC.
"KP.3 and its descendants (KP.3.1, KP3.2, etc) account for about 33 per cent of cases in Australia."

What does it mean for current vaccines?​

While the new variants may be proving to be more infectious than previous iterations of the coronavirus, they have not yet shown to be more severe.

Symptoms appear to be similar to most COVID strains:​

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

"There's nothing to suggest that it's going to be significantly different," Professor Griffin said.
But, there are implications for vaccinations.
"The main thing is that every time the virus changes, the immunity from past infection or vaccination declines again," he said.
"That doesn't mean these changes render our vaccines ineffective, or that past infection doesn't provide an element of protection, it just declines in a relatively progressive way."
So, even if you recently had a FLiRT infection, people are still at risk of re-infection with FLuQE in high circulation.
We are also at a point since COVID-19 was discovered, where we are doing the least to curb its transmission, Professor Griffin added.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended developing new vaccines that target JN.1. to better protect against the new variants.

Here's what you need to know about FLiRT​

After a busy start to flu season, we're now bracing for new, highly transmissible COVID-causing subvariants.

Read more
Professor Esterman said Australia's current vaccines based on XBB.1.5 Omicron variant still gives some cross-immunity.
But versions that provide better protections against the new strains are expected towards the end of the year.
The advice in the meantime is to continue to get the available booster shots.
Professor Griffin said although Australia isn't necessarily keeping up with new variants such as FLiRT and FLuQE, the current booster "still does a great job of reducing risk, particularly of severe disease".
"I guess the simple message there is it's going to be really important that we do continue to use vaccination and that we do update our vaccines," he said.
"But the biggest challenge is we're simply too slow at doing that."
Posted 2 Jul 2024

 

[Yommie]

Was COVID A Conspiracy Theory? Armando Anto​

 

[Yommie]

If You Test Positive for Covid, Can You Still Travel?

With coronavirus cases on the rise, summer travelers are once again facing difficult questions. Here’s the latest travel guidance from health experts.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Yommie]

Covid-19: 3657 new cases, 40 further deaths

There have been 3657 new cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand over the week to Sunday, and 40 further deaths attributed to the virus.

www.rnz.co.nz

Covid-19: 3657 new cases, 40 further deaths​

5:32 pm on 1 July 2024
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The latest Covid-19 figures have just been released today. File image. Photo: NOBEASTSOFIERCE/SCIENCE PHOTO LI
There have been 3657 new cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand over the week to Sunday, and 40 further deaths attributed to the virus.
The number of deaths was nearly double that reported by Te Whatu Ora/Health NZ last week.
Of the new cases, 2158 were reinfections.
There were 208 cases in hospital; none of these patients were in intensive care.
A Flourish data visualization
Last week, the Ministry of Health reported 8943 new cases and 25 further deaths.
The latest figures follow the announcement the dedicated Covid-19 Healthline and doctor services had ended.
Both were set up by the Ministry of Health as part of the country's Covid-19 response, and run by Whakarongorau Aotearoa New Zealand Telehealth Services.
Funding for the services finished on 30 June.
Health NZ's Martin Hefford said the public health system was changing the way it responded to Covid-19.
Covid would be managed as "business as usual" and treated in a similar way to other communicable diseases, like SARS, he said.
Healthline nurses and paramedics would continue to provide advice and information.

 

[Yommie]

Thursday's Pandemic Update: 4th Of July Is Here As Covid Rages On​

 

[Yommie]

 

[Yommie]