Arcturus triggers unusual corona symptoms – especially in children

India, Singapore, Australia and also USA: XBB.1.16, also called Arcturus, is one of the omicron variants that are currently spreading. In the Weekly report of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) there is a whole bouquet of sublines that are circulating. In this country, there are no indications of more severe symptoms than in the case of the precursors.

The Indian expert Vipin Vashishta, pediatrician and researcher at Mangla Hospital and Research Center in Bijnor, India, and a member of the WHO Vaccine Group, is closely monitoring Arcturus and its impact.

This omicron variant has not only managed to trigger a wave in India for the past six months. In his experience, XBB.1.16 also means that pediatric (i.e. children’s medical) Covid cases are increasing again for the first time in six months. At the same time, the signs of the disease had changed. The doctor recently tweeted that “an infantile phenotype is emerging.”

What signs of illness does Arcturus cause in children?

The symptoms he now sees in children are:

• high fever
• Cough
• “Itchy” conjunctivitis – or pink eye – without pus but with “sticky eyes”

The latter symptom has not been observed in previous corona waves, he noted. Conjunctivitis is also manifested by severe tearing, red eyes and frequent rubbing.

What are the symptoms of XBB.1.16?

Rajas Walinjkar, doctor at Seven Hills Hospital, which treats many inpatients, describes the symptoms for all ages as follows:

• fever lasting less than 48 hours
• sore throat
• body aches

This is therefore a profile similar to that seen with the previous Omikron variants.

How are the symptoms of the current influenza B virus different?

As compared to other Sars-CoV-2 variants, the symptoms differ only marginally from those of influenza and vary from person to person. About a third of all influenza illnesses typically begin with

• a sudden feeling of illness,
• Fever,
• sore throat and
• dry cough.
• Accompanying can
• Muscle-,
• limbs,
• back or
• added headache.

“Especially in older people, the signs of illness are often not so pronounced,” writes the Federal Center for Health Education (BzgA) further. They are more like a cold. “If the course is uncomplicated, the symptoms will subside after five to seven days. But the cough can last much longer.”

The disease can vary in severity – with mild or even no symptoms at all. However, serious illnesses with fatal consequences are also possible. The most common complication is pneumonia. Children can also develop middle ear infections. Inflammation of the brain or heart muscle occurs only rarely.

How common is Arcturus in Germany?

In the last few weeks, the XBB.1 subline XBB.1.16 has been detected in various countries worldwide. Arcturus, classified as VUM by the WHO, is characterized by three additional amino acid exchanges (E180V, K478R, S486P) in the spike protein. The Robert Koch Institute adds to this in the current weekly report: “So far only very few XBB.1.16 sequences have been transmitted in Germany”, namely 14 from February to the end of March. The low number can also be related to the fact that not all infected people have a PCR test done, which is necessary for sequencing the variant.

XBB.1.16 is still not included in the table of variants of concern and variants of interest. The experts at the RKI expect the proportion of XBB.1 sub-lines to continue to rise in Germany in the coming weeks.

Nevertheless, the following applies: “Overall, as in the previous weeks, no increase in the severity of the disease is observed for the listed sublines, even with increasing spread.”

How sick does Arcturus make?

Other experts do not expect an increased burden of disease for Arcturus either. “I don’t think that Arcturus will lead to many severe courses again,” explains Ulf Dittmer, Director of the Institute for Virology at the University Hospital in Essen, when asked by FOCUS online. Especially people who have been vaccinated first and are then mildly/moderately ill have a very broad immunity – through antibodies as well as through T-cells. That applies to many in Europe. “This protects them very well against serious illness and no conceivable variant can completely avoid that.”