A newly emerging COVID-19 strain spreading in the United States is being blamed for a particularly painful sore throat, which some have started calling “razor blade throat.”
The variant, dubbed “nimbus” and formally designated NB.1.8.1, is a descendant of the omicron lineage and is under active observation by the World Health Organization.
“Your throat is so dry, so cracked, it’s so painful, it’s even hard to drink sometimes,” said Dr. Muhammad Azam of Sharp Community Medical Group in California, speaking to ABC 10.
This version of the virus was initially detected back in January and has since been identified in countries around the world, including Canada and at least 13 states across the U.S.
Beyond the intense sore throat, the nimbus variant presents with symptoms similar to other omicron offshoots, including cough, fever, fatigue, muscle aches, nasal congestion, headache, nausea, vomiting, and loss of taste or smell, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Sore throat has been a part of the spectrum of COVID from the beginning,” said Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
“It is something that we know occurs just like it occurs with many other respiratory viruses.”
Currently, the dominant strain in the U.S. remains LP.8.1, which accounts for 38 percent of reported COVID-19 cases. However, the NB.1.8.1 variant is close behind, now responsible for 37 percent of infections, based on CDC tracking.
The CDC does caution, however, that due to a low number of virus sequences being submitted, the accuracy of these estimates is limited.
The World Health Organization has stated that NB.1.8.1 does not appear to pose a greater global threat than other circulating strains.
The WHO also maintains that current COVID-19 vaccines continue to offer solid protection against severe outcomes, including hospitalization, from the new variant.
Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert and professor at the University of California, San Francisco, told ABC News that sore throat is now a prevalent complaint among patients.
“I think it’s certainly amongst the spectrum of symptoms that you can get, and we know that sore throat is reported by about 70% of patients now with COVID, so it’s not unusual, and like with everything in medicine, there’s always a spectrum,” he said.
{Matzav.com}