“We need to keep an eye on HV.1”: New Corona variant is spreading rapidly in the US

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A new Corona variant is circulating: HV.1. In the US it is currently responsible for most Covid diseases. Researchers are concerned about the new mutation.

“We have a new Covid variant that we need to keep an eye on,” Andrea Garcia, vice president of the American Health Association (AMA), said a week ago. How did the new variant come to dominate the disease situation in the US so quickly?

Been in circulation since the summer

“It’s only been a few weeks and HV.1 has become the variant responsible for the majority of Covid cases here in the US,” Garcia continued. Although the highly contagious variant has been circulating since the summer, it only became noticeable in October and now dominates the infection process.

HV.1 is a rig from Omicron. Infectiologist William Schaffner describes the new mutation on the American news portal Today as “a grandson of Omicron”. The variant is also a direct descendant of Eris (EG.5).

HV.1 is not as worrying as other corona mutations, such as Pirola and JN.1, which make the virus more contagious and place greater demands on the immune system. However, the new variant has significantly higher transmissibility.

Corona vaccination offers good protection

The question of whether HV.1 can also bypass immunity is currently unclear. Likewise, whether the variant causes severe illness or leads to more hospitalizations.

According to Schaffner, there are many indications that the available corona vaccines provide good protection against HV.1. “Laboratory studies indicate that the updated booster vaccination also protects against severe disease caused by HV.1,” he said. However, the Corona variant has not been detected in Switzerland. But the viral load in wastewater shows that cases are also increasing in Switzerland. (ced)

Source: Blick