A new COVID-19 variant seems to be on its way to taking over in Alberta, with one expert forecasting it likely already accounts for the lion’s portion of the province’s cases.
JN.1 is a sprout of BA.2.86, which has progressed, like several of its predecessors, to better escape our immune barricades.
It is now the leading strain in Canada. Statistics from the Public Health Agency of Canada confirms it will account for about 66% of COVID-19 cases nationwide.
And it’s on the upsurge as a proportion of cases in Alberta, too.
Data submitted by Alberta Health displays that as of the week of Dec. 23, JN.1 had been recognized in roughly 45% of sequenced cases.
The week earlier, it accounted for 26.4%, according to the freely available respiratory virus dashboard.
It’s likely becoming — or has become — foremost in Alberta, said Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious diseases professional at the University of Alberta.
But with that we’re not essentially recognizing any alteration in the severity of infection or type of illness or hospitalizations.
JN.1 was categorized as a variant of interest in Canada on Dec. 21. The title is reserved for variants the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) believes have the possibility to substitute a dominant lineage, where the influences are unknown or not predictable to be “meaningfully different than current lineages.”
In an email, a PHAC representative said the agency is observing to see if JN.1 warrants being bounced up to a variant of concern.
That label is given to heredities that are anticipated to have a meaningful influence on population level outcomes outside what is happening with the current lineages, the PHAC website states.
According to specialists, JN.1 demonstrate an advantage because it seems to more easily evade immunity.
It appeared in the fall and it didn’t really dominate. But it has been fairly successful and it has a couple of additional mutations in the spike protein that just give it that added edge on transmissibility, said Caroline Colijn, a Canada 150 Investigate Chair in mathematics for evolution, infection and public health at Simon Fraser University.
In a announcement emailed to CBC News, a PHAC representative said current transmission tendencies show JN.1 is anticipated to gradually increase as a proportion of cases in the impending months.
In early December 2023, the WHO specified that the existing public health risk for JN.1 was considered to be small and not larger than presently circulating Omicron descendant lineages, in spite of an increase in cases, the spokesperson said.
While currently limited, the indication to date does not propose any associated upsurges in disease severity.”
Alberta Health also informed, consequences do not seem any different with this variant, and Saxinger said hospitalized patients don’t seem to be more seriously ill.
It’s a little bit premature to say for certain, but so far it hasn’t appeared to make much of an influence on how much COVID we’re seeing since really, we were very busy with flu, she said.
But COVID numbers have been reducing over that same time period, so we do not think it’s expected to cause any big waves in the short to medium term.”
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JN.1 is the newest sublineage to wrestle its way to the top as the SARS CoV-2 virus spreads globally.
We’ve realizing this time and time again with variations, where you have one variant that has a beneficial over others, said Colijn.
With inadequate testing, it’s problematic to comprehend the risk of new variants, according to Colijn. It’s conceivable, she said, that JN.1 could lead to an uptick in general case numbers.
If you have a infectious or immune evasive — or both — variant, then it will increase in numbers as well as frequency, she said.
I think we could be looking at a surge, and the Alberta health system is already stressed with waiting times and volumes, so any surge that does occur from this variant could add to the problems.
Meanwhile, PHAC is encouraging Canadians to get the newest COVID-19 vaccine.
Early indication suggests that the updated XBB.1.5 vaccines deliver protection against these latest circulating strains, a representative said.
Receiving an updated COVID-19 vaccine remains to be one of the most effective methods to protect against serious illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19. It also decreases the risk of developing post-COVID-19 ailment.
Just 16% of Albertans have received the updated COVID-19 jabs.
Surely, people recognizing this information should really look at when their last vaccine was, said Saxinger, if it was the bivalent vaccine, receiving the fall vaccine — the XBB vaccine — would be a benefit to them.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/jn-1-variant-covid-alberta-1.7079611
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/do-i-need-to-worry-about-covid-anymore-223424342.html
