Medical Case Reports

From wild type to Alpha (B.1.1.7), Delta (B.1.617.2), Omicron BA.1, BA.2, BA.5,  BQ.1/BA.2.75,  XBB, JN.1, FLiRT variants and now XEC and LP.8.1 (BA.2.86.1), the virus keeps evolving, continuously demonstrating its ability to adapt and mutate.  As we enter the tenth wave of COVID-19 in the U.S, the XEC variant has emerged as the dominant strain - in line with expectations. It could be " a weak leading variant "  but will it be a " very muted holiday wave relative to all prior years , due to weak evolution and large summer numbers"?  Until recently in the US KP.3.1.1 was dominating wastewater samples and accounting for a considerable proportion of infections. Looking at the growth advantages of variants over the last year led to predictions of significantly lower impact  than JN.1 that "XEC should only modestly bump what the winter wave would be without any new variant" by one of COVID forecasters . But other variants are also gaining traction. The off...

In a recent case report, Swedish scientists documented the first known transmission of a novel recombinant SARS-CoV-2 variant. The case highlights how a patient co-infected with two different strains—sublineages of XBB (HV.1) and BA.2.86.1—generated and transmitted a hybrid variant to another patient within a hospital setting. In October 2023, routine genomic surveillance in Stockholm identified a recombinant variant in a patient (Patient B). This hybrid virus combined genetic material from two distinct lineages: the 5′ part of the genome from HV.1 and the 3′ part from BA.2.86.1. The recombination occurred at the orf1b and S gene junction, producing a novel variant not observed in other Swedish patients. Meanwhile, another patient (Patient A), co-hospitalized in the same ward, was found to be co-infected with both HV.1 and BA.2.86.1. Sequencing revealed that about 30% of the virus in Patient A came from the BA.2.86.1 lineage. The two patients shared six rare mutations, confirming that ...