FLiRT cases surge in US: Here's what you need to know about new COVID-19 variant

The threat of COVID-19 continues to loom large over the world, as FLiRT, a group of new COVID-19 variants belonging to Omicron’s JN.1 lineage is spreading fast in the US, spreading concern about a new wave of infections in summer.

The nickname 'FLiRT" is based on the technical names for their mutations, according to the Infectious Disease Society of America.

With new mutations, the variants KP.2 and KP 1.1 are considered to more infectious than previous Omicron variants, but experts say the symptoms remain more or less the same. As per media reports, KP.2 has reported to have taken over JN.1variant in the US although cases of hospitalisation there remain low. KP.1.1, another FLirt variant, is also detected in the US, but seems to be less in circulation than KP.2, says a report in Hindustan Times.

Small surge recorded

“A small surge has been witnessed in the United States over the last couple of weeks and there are fears that during summer there, the surge would increase. KP.2 and KP 1.1 make for FLiRT that have been identified as the new variants. As per researcher Dr Eric, this new lineage will probably evade the vaccine and bypass the immunity,” Dr M Wali, Senior Consultant, Department of Medicine, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, was quoted as saying by the daily.

Dr Wali said considering people in India were not exposed to mRNA vaccines and have gained immunity widely through infections, there is less reason to panic about a fresh wave.

Need for caution

“In the US, mRNA vaccines were given routinely and these were associated with impairing the immune function. There were large group of people who did not take the vaccine and therefore they now need to be cautious for new variants. In India, that's not the problem. Because the immunity that we acquired was through infections and a large number of people were infected. Our vaccination programme was also huge,” he added.

“New variants will keep coming and we have to stay alert and follow universal precautions like use of mask, keeping social distancing, not coughing inappropriately and also have influenza vaccination or flu shot. People above 45 years old and children also can be given flu shots. We have to prepare ourselves with influenza like illnesses and Covid,” said Dr Wali.

Symptoms no different

“The FLiRT variants, especially KP.2, appear to have increased transmissibility compared to previous Omicron sub variants. They also show ability to evade immunity from prior infection and vaccines, though the extent is still under study,” said Dr Nikhil Modi, Senior Consultant at the Department of Respiratory, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital.

“The symptoms associated with FLiRT infection mirror those of other Omicron subvariants, including sore throat, cough, fatigue, nasal congestion, runny nose, headache, muscle aches, fever, and potential loss of taste or smell,” he said.

Stressing on updating vaccines, Dr Wali said future vaccination formulation should be as per WHO and should be considered keeping in view emerging variants like KP 1.1 and so on.