The pandemic is now behind us, but the increase in Covid infections continues to keep scientists anxious. A new variant, dubbed BW.1, or more commonly Xibalbá, was recently discovered in Mexico. According to doctors, it could be the cause of new outbreaks that are taking place in the South American country. In the last week there has been an increase of 500 cases in the region.
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Xibalbà, what do we know
Medical authorities are concerned that there could be a new significant increase in infections, hand in hand with the spread of Xibalbà. The states where infections mainly circulate in Mexico are Yucatán, Campeche, Tabasco and Quintana Roo. The discovery of the new strain was announced by Rodrigo García López, a scientist at the Institute of Biotechnology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Genomic analysis of the BW.1 variant suggests that it may have originated in Mexico during the fifth epidemiological wave (June to September 2022), derived from BA.5.6.2 viruses circulating in Yucatan, which in turn may have been imported from the United States.
Symptoms
Xibalbà is a subvariant of Omicron, derived from lineage BA.5.6.2 (known as “Hellhound”), which appears to have originated in Mexico and became dominant in the Yucatan peninsula. It is a strain that evades current protective measures, so much so that the risk of reinfection is very high and, therefore, its future international expansion. These are the most common symptoms it presents:
- Fever
- Cough
- runny nose
- Fatigue
- Sore throat
- Muscular pain
- Diarrhea
- Loss of smell and taste
- loss of appetite
- Aphonia
#Xibalbanew discovery #variant #Covid: «Current vaccines ineffective, risk of new increase in infections». What are the #symptoms https://t.co/HI8Qsom8yD
— I read (@leggoit) December 2, 2022
Last Updated: Friday 2 December 2022, 3:38 pm
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