{"id":362698,"date":"2023-11-28T07:47:07","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T12:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/new-covid-variant-takes-hold-in-the-united-states-drugs-com-mednews\/"},"modified":"2023-11-28T12:24:38","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T17:24:38","slug":"new-covid-variant-takes-hold-in-the-united-states-drugs-com-mednews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/new-covid-variant-takes-hold-in-the-united-states-drugs-com-mednews\/","title":{"rendered":"New COVID Variant Takes Hold in the United States – Drugs.com MedNews","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm<\/a>. Last updated on Nov 28, 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

By Robin Foster HealthDay Reporter<\/p>\n

TUESDAY, Nov. 28, 2023 (Healthday News) — The prevalence of a highly mutated COVID variant has tripled in the past two weeks, new government data shows.<\/p>\n

Now, nearly 1 in 10 new COVID cases are fueled by the BA.2.86 variant, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported<\/a><\/ins> Monday.<\/p>\n

The variant is spreading the fastest in the Northeast: Just over 13% of cases in the New York and New Jersey region are blamed on BA.2.86.<\/p>\n

Scientists first warned<\/a> of the highly mutated variant back in August, but it has since spread in several regions of the United States.<\/p>\n

Until now, the vast majority of new COVID cases have been blamed on the XBB variant and several of its descendants, including the HV.1 and EG.5 variants.<\/p>\n

But that may soon change.<\/p>\n

The CDC’s estimates carry wide margins of error around BA.2.86’s prevalence, but the latest estimate is triple what it was on Nov. 11, the data showed.<\/p>\n

Still, “it is important to note that early projections tend to be less reliable, since they depend on examining growth trends of a smaller number of sequences, especially as laboratory-based testing volume for SARS-CoV-2 has decreased substantially over time,” the agency noted in an update<\/a> on the variant.<\/p>\n

So far, preliminary data on the variant suggests it does not trigger more severe illness than previous variants, the WHO said in a recent risk evaluation<\/a><\/ins>, but the international agency still noted a recent and “substantial rise” in BA.2.86 cases.<\/p>\n

The CDC also noted that BA.2.86 variant poses a “low” public health risk.<\/p>\n

But the CDC data<\/a><\/ins> released Monday did show that emergency department visits linked to COVID-19<\/a> have begun to climb nationwide.<\/p>\n

One particular descendant of BA.2.86 might be driving the increase, experts say.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, scientists have been studying a steep increase in a BA.2.86 descendant called JN.1, which has become the fastest-growing subvariant worldwide<\/a><\/ins>. <\/p>\n

“Currently, JN.1 is the most common version of BA.2.86 in the U.S. CDC projects BA.2.86 and its offshoots like JN.1 will continue to increase as a proportion of SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences,” CDC spokesperson Jasmine Reed<\/a> told CBS News<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The good news?<\/p>\n

This season’s vaccines are expected to work against JN.1, as they do against BA.2.86, the agency said.<\/p>\n

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Sources<\/h2>\n