The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the new variants of Covid-19, ‘FLiRT’ and ‘LB.1’, have become dominant in the world. Infectious Diseases Association President Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ceyhan said, “In the US, there was an 18 percent increase in emergency room visits and a 13 percent increase in hospitalizations due to the LB.1 variant. Unfortunately, routine testing has been abandoned in Turkey for the last few years. Therefore, we do not know if the new variants exist in Turkey.”
SYMPTOMS SUCH AS FEVER, VOMITING, AND DIARRHEA ARE SEEN
WHO announced that two new Covid-19 variant groups, ‘FLiRT’ and ‘LB.1’, have become dominant in the world. The new variants show symptoms such as fever, sore throat, runny nose, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and smell and taste disorders.
Infectious Diseases Association President Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ceyhan said that the FLiRT variant has rapidly risen to the top of the list in countries conducting tests in the US, Europe and Asia, and that the LB.1 variant has also started to be seen since the beginning of last month. Ceyhan said, “The emergence of new variants of the Covid-19 virus is not very misleading or surprising. Because this is the characteristic of these viruses. Influenza (flu) viruses and these coronaviruses mutate frequently. Therefore, new variants emerge. Therefore, it is necessary to take some precautions to slow down this circulation.
“FLiRT VARIANT WILL BE REPLACED BY LB.1 VARIANT”
The FLiRT variant emerged in the spring and quickly became a widespread variant. In the US, Europe and Asia, in other words, in countries conducting testing and variant analysis, the FLiRT variant quickly rose to the top. But then, at the beginning of last month, a new variant called LB.1 began to appear. It was not yet clear how much it would spread and how important it was. That’s why it was on the WHO’s watch list. In the evaluations made last week, we saw that it now has a faster spreading feature than the FLIRT variant. It seems that this LB.1 variant will replace the FLiRT variants next month,” he said.
‘NEW PANDEMICS WILL DEFINITELY COME’
Stating that the new variants could be fatal for people in the risk group, Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ceyhan said, “In the USA, when compared to the first week of the previous month, there was an 18 percent increase in emergency room visits and a 13 percent increase in hospitalizations last week. Of course, there is no need to panic. Everyone thinks of the picture from 2000; shops will close, schools, workplaces will close. Such a situation is not the case. However, some precautions need to be taken. Some of these are measures that can be taken by the state, and some are individual measures.
IT IS TRANSMITTED RAPIDLY IN CLOSED PLACES
The biggest reason for this increase in cases in the summer, apart from the new variants, is that people spend more time indoors than outdoors because the weather is very hot. We know that this disease is transmitted very easily, especially in crowded and closed places that are not well ventilated. People in the risk group should stay away from such environments as much as possible. If they absolutely have to enter, they should definitely have N95 masks, which prevent self-infection, with them and wear them when they enter such an environment. Hand hygiene should be paid attention to again. If we take such measures individually, we can at least slow down the spread of mutations and the emergence of new mutations a little. The issue of ‘a new pandemic is coming’ is like an earthquake, new pandemics will definitely come. It is not possible for us to prevent this,” he said.
‘SURVEILLANCE PLANNING MUST BE MADE IN TURKEY’
Drawing attention to the precautions that should be taken by the state, Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ceyhan said, “A state preparedness plan should be created. And that plan will be a plan that can be put into effect immediately when any pandemic begins. There is such a plan for the flu pandemic. In fact, it was revised every 4 years. Then it was not done for a while. However, such a pandemic plan has not been created for the coronavirus yet. This work is usually done under the leadership of the WHO. All countries need to make a detailed plan, just like in the mobilization order, such as who will be responsible for what at that time, which building, which vehicle will be used.
Unfortunately, routine testing has been abandoned in Turkey for the last few years. Therefore, we do not know if there are new variants in Turkey. Since variant analyses are no longer being done, we do not know which variants are present. We are not saying ‘screen everyone in Turkey’; but a surveillance plan should be made and it is necessary to follow up on which variant is currently prominent in Turkey and which variant has just started. All European countries, the US, and South Asian countries are doing this. In this environment, in other words, in a period when tourism is so uncontrolled and touristic movements have increased so much all over the world, it is not possible for a variant that emerged in one place not to spread to another place,” he said.
‘I CANNOT SAY VACCINATED WITH CURRENT VACCINES’
Stating that enough vaccines should be provided to be administered to the risk group, Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ceyhan said, “I cannot say go and get vaccinated with the current vaccines. Because no one knows the effect. Therefore, since the vaccines we have such as Turkovac, Sinovac, Biontech are no longer in use, no one knows how effective they are against these new variants. But when we think theoretically, we must admit that their effect is not very much. Because these are variants that can even bypass the immunity due to vaccines that may be more effective. Therefore, I do not recommend anyone to ‘go and get vaccinated again’ with these vaccines.”
Ceyhan stated that LB.1 does not come from the same branch as FLiRT and said, “It seems to be the child of a variant that we call JN.1, which causes an increase in cases in the winter. In these variants, the virus spreads faster. The immune system is defeated more easily. Of course, since this is very new, studies are continuing. The mutant, that is, the child of a mutant that you seem to have lost, emerges and causes a new period of increase in cases. There is no difference in clinical findings. Therefore, a person cannot know whether the disease they have is Covid-19 unless they get tested. I cannot know this as a doctor either. Because there are too many such cases right now.” (DHA)