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in collaboration with
Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)
We talk about it less and less in France, but the Covid-19 continues to circulate significantly in certain countries, elsewhere in the world. In India, for example, the XBB.1.16 variant, nicknamed Arcturus, is currently claiming many victims. Should we be worried about it? The point of view of Dr Gérald Kierzek, emergency doctor and medical director of Doctissimo.
The Covid-19 is less talked about in France, but the virus continues to rage around the world with in particular a new variant already detected in around twenty countries including France and the United Kingdom. Nicknamed Arcturus, this XBB.1.16 variant is the source of many infections in India today.
A variant under WHO supervision
At the end of March, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a report summarizing the general trend on the virus – rather downward – and also listing the number of cases: “as of March 26, 2023, over 761 million confirmed cases and over 6.8 million deaths have been reported worldwidethe statement read, with several countries reporting rising numbers.
The WHO mentions the XBB.1.16 variant, explaining that it is under close surveillance, due to the increase in cases linked to it: “Among the variants we are examining, XBB.1.16 is the subject of particular vigilance. Its profile is actually very similar to the XBB.1.15 variant. It has an additional mutation in the Spike protein, which in laboratory studies is characterized by potentially increased infectivity and pathogenicity. […] At present, we have only listed 800 cases from 22 countries. Most of them come from India where the XBB.1.16 has replaced the other variants in circulation”.
What are the symptoms caused by this variant?
It is in India, where the virus has affected many people, including children, that the symptoms have been well observed. On his Twitter account, an Indian pediatrician, Dr. Vipin M. Vashishtha explains that he noticed in children under 12, a number of classic symptoms of Covid-19 such as fever, cold and cough, but with a particularity: the development of itchy conjunctivitis and red or sticky eyes.
XBB.1.16 #Arcturus
For the last 2 days, have started getting pediatric Covid cases once again after a gap of 6 mo! An infantile phenotype seems emerging—treated infants w/ high fever, cold & cough, & non-purulent, itchy conjunctivitis w/ sticky eyes, not seen in earlier waves pic.twitter.com/UTVgrCCLWU
— Vipin M. Vashishtha (@vipintukur) April 6, 2023
A variant capable of causing new infections?
It is therefore because of its infectiousness that this variant is particularly scrutinized. Japanese scientists have already published a study on the Arcturus variant, explaining that it would be 1.2 times more infectious than the previous variant, XBB.1.5. and believe it could spread “worldwide in the near future”without however being more dangerous.
The opinion of Dr Gérald Kierzek, emergency doctor and medical director of Doctissimo
“Once again, with these stories of variants circulating in the media, we play at being scared. Let’s leave all that to the scientists, they are qualified to study these viruses, like all the others, without this creating any particular concern. It is also doubly negative because by commenting on each new variant, by alerting the population to the slightest information of this kind, it contributes to the discrediting of the media and medical speech”.