COVID-19 News: JN.1 Spawn JN.1.2 That Spots The Spike Mutation M1229I Found In Infected Minks Likely To Be The Next Predominant Variant!
Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Jan 04, 2024 10 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 19 hours, 4 minutes ago
COVID-19 News: Emerging data shows that while the JN.1 variant is currently overtaking all XBB sub-lineages to become the dominating circulating variant in the next few weeks, one of JN.1 spawns ie.JN.1.2 is likely to catch up and become a predominant variant in by mid-March.
https://twitter.com/Mike_Honey_/status/1742751121960267914
The JN.1.2 variant was first identified around October 2022 and is currently circulating in more than 18 countries.
Canada, Ireland and the United States are the three countries with the most number of JN.1.2 sequences identified so far.
https://cov-spectrum.org/explore/World/AllSamples/Past6M/variants?nextcladePangoLineage=JN.1.2&
https://twitter.com/Mike_Honey_/status/1742751126943158520
The JN.1.2 variant spots the spike mutation M1229I that was last found in a SARS-CoV-2 sub-lineage (B.1.1.298 or cluster 5) that emerged from minks in Denmark that were infected with the virus in November 2020.
https://files.ssi.dk/Mink-cluster-5-short-report_AFO2
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-021-00573-0
The cluster 5 incident is a very controversial event as some speculate that there are was a major cover-up by the WHO, Danish, EU and U.S. CDC and U.S. NIH authorities as it is believed that the cluster 5 variant was very lethal but fortunately not that transmissible.
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/covid-19-news-breaking-denmark-s-dangerous-mink-cluster-5-variant-found-in-north-carolina-united-states
It was speculated that most infected with the cluster 5 variant died but all cases were concealed to prevent public fear.
There is also a growing belief that the BA.2.86 variant i.e. the 'parent; of JN.1 could have originated via reverse zoonotic transmission from minks that were infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus for a long time.
Whether the M1229I spike mutation drives disease severity is at the moment not known but it does affect binding to receptors and viral entry into cells as it is located at the transmembrane area.
While authorities and ‘experts; keep on with the narratives that the JN.1 variant is mild and does not cause disease severity, COVID-19 hospitalizations, ICU admissions and emergency room visits are rising at an alarming rate across various geolocations in the world. The rising COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU admissions has been validated by numerous
COVID-19 News co
verages.
To add to the mystery, a lot of clinical anomalies are also being witnessed in JN.1 infected individuals such as present of a wide range of gastrointestinal symptoms and also the development of severe pneumonia days or weeks later as the infected individuals appears to be recovering!
What is also interesting is that the JN.1 variant is evolving and sprouting mutations at an unprecedented rate! At present there are more than 420 different JN.1 spawns with varying degrees of viral fitness.
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/covid-19-news-after-jn-1,-expect-new-spawns-jn-1-1,-jn-1-1-1,-jn-8,-jn-9-and-spawns-with-t572i-mutation-to-continuously-reinfect-till-lethal-strain-em
There is also an interesting hypothesis that when infected with the JN.1 variant, the variant quickly goes to various ‘compartmentalized reservoir areas’ in the human host, where due to different surrounding immune pressure and cellular conditions, the JN.1 rapidly spawns sub-lineages with mutations that enhances its longer stay in the human host!
We can expect more studies in coming weeks about the pathogenic properties of the JN.1 variant and its spawns including JN.1.2.
For the latest
COVID-19 News, keep on logging to Thailand Medical News.
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