2023-11-14 20:06:32
**New Corona Variant JN.1 Raises Concerns of Increased Contagiousness**
November 14, 2023, 7:06 p.m
By: Karolin Schäfer
The fact that the corona virus keeps mutating is not new. However, a new sub-line of the Pirola variant could now be more contagious than its predecessor.
Frankfurt – Recently, the Corona variant Pirola attracted attention because it causes unusual symptoms. However, this does not pose a major danger so far, as Pirola is not considered to be significantly more contagious. However, a sub-variant of this virus strain has now been discovered that could be the opposite.
“This is the Corona subline JN.1, which could possibly be more contagious than its predecessor variant. How Daily Mail reported, some cases were recently reported in over eleven countries, primarily in the USA and Great Britain. Kelly Oakson, senior bioinformatics scientist at the Utah Public Health Laboratory, called this strain “alarming.” “We will definitely keep an eye on him,” the newspaper quoted the researcher as saying.
The variant first appeared in the USA in September 2023, reported the US health authority CDC. There are indications that JN.1 could be “possibly more contagious,” the Austrian daily quoted OE24 Professor Thomas Russo, who discovered the new variant. According to the CDC, it is not yet possible to say whether JN.1 will spread given the limited data available.
According to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, there is no evidence that JN.1 causes different symptoms than previous corona variants. Since it is a sub-variant of the Omicron variant, symptoms such as sore throat, body aches, difficulty breathing, fever and cough are possible.
In addition to the respiratory infections caused by cold viruses that are typical of this time of year, there are still many corona infections circulating in Germany, reported the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in its current weekly report. However, it does not currently appear that the Pirola variant and its JN.1 subline will become established in this country.
In Germany, most infections (almost 43 percent) are due to the Eris Corona variant, and only 7 percent are due to the Pirola variant (as of calendar week 44). Virologist Christian Drosten also recently gave the all-clear. There is no evidence of serious illness, he said Time.
The corona variant HV.1 is currently being observed by experts Daily Mail According to this, it already accounts for 25 percent of cases in the USA. This is a subline of the Eris variant that has spread to more than 41 countries. “It is important to recognize that there will always be new variants of Sars-CoV-2. This is like any other endemic respiratory virus and most will not worry anyone,” Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University, told the broadcaster Wion.
Although HV.1 is becoming more common, there are no signs of severe disease progression in this case, added Ross Kedl, immunologist at the University of Colorado. Most recently, a study revealed brain damage after the corona pandemic. Another study, however, came to the preliminary conclusion that masks were rather ineffective during the Corona period. (which)]
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