FLiRT, the new Covid variant that is already dominant in the US: here are its symptoms

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified new variant of covid-19 during wastewater monitoring tasks. This variant, known as FLiRT, accounted for 25% of cases in the country between April 14 and April 27, thus becoming predominant strain in the region, surpassing JN.1. According to experts, “the KP.2 variant is a descendant of the JN.1 variant and represents several mutations associated with evasion of immune protection provided by vaccines.”

Changes in the spike protein are critical to Covid-19’s ability to colonize our bodies and cause disease, which has experts concerned. Dr. Megan L. Ranney, dean of the Yale School of Public Health, notes that the increase in FLiRT cases is occurring in context of low vaccination rates against covid-19 in the US, which currently accounts for 22.6% of the population. He warns that “declining immunity” increases the risk of a new wave of cases.

According to the CDC, symptoms of the new variant reported so far are similar to those of other strains and include: fever, chills, cough, sore throat, nasal congestion and runny nose. Headache, muscle aches, shortness of breath, fatigue, loss of smell or taste, brain fog and gastrointestinal symptoms have also been reported.

Signs of infection usually appear from two to 14 days after infection, and in general, people with Covid-19 can experience a wide range of symptoms and clinical manifestations, from mild illness to severe cases.