2023-11-26 18:22:00
New Covid-19 Variant HV.1 Rapidly Spreading in the USA, Health Experts Warn
Warning about HV.1
Even four years after Covid-19 was first detected, the virus continues to mutate, with the latest variant HV.1 causing concern among health experts.
Winter is here – and with it another new Corona variant. This goes by the name HV.1 and, after Eris, Pirola and JN.1, is currently gaining ground, especially in the USA. There, HV.1 already causes most coronavirus infections.
The rapid spread is causing a stir among experts. “We have a new Covid variant that we have to keep an eye on,” recently warned Andrea Garcia, Vice President of the American Health Association (AMA).
Rapid spread in the USA
HV.1 is an omicron sublineage, a direct descendant of the Eris variant, and is considered highly contagious. The mutation was first observed in the USA in the summer. But now HV.1 has spread rapidly and overtaken Eris & Co. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the variant accounted for only 0.5 percent of all detected coronavirus cases at the end of July. At the end of September it was 12.5 percent, now in November it is already 25.2 percent of all cases.
HV.1 attacks the bronchi more severely
What makes HV.1 special – and potentially dangerous: Although the symptoms are similar to previous Omicron variants – sore throat, running cold, cough, exhaustion, headache, fever, chills and muscle pain – HV.1 is said to attack the bronchi more severely.
Cough syndrome for a long time
“It appears to cause a type of chronic bronchitis, so you can have a cough syndrome that lasts beyond the period in which you have recovered from other symptoms,” agreed Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. However, HV.1 does not appear to be more contagious than the other mutations and not as bad as JN.1, which can infiltrate cells even faster due to many changes to the spike protein.
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