Doctors have explained two potential symptoms of the latest Covid variant which has hit 29 countries across the world.
The new Covid-19 variant is called Arcturus, and is rapidly spreading across the globe. Infectious disease doctors say the strain's mutation makes it highly transmissible.
Now, health officials have warned it may have new symptoms not seen in previous strains. The strain is 'more feverish' than other variants, and there's been a suggested link to conjunctivitis - but debate over this link rages on in the medical community, The Mirror reports.
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Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, said: "It tends to produce more fever than some of the other strains we've seen.
"But the most distinctive feature is that it seems to have a tendency to produce conjunctivitis, particularly in children."
Despite sometimes causing a worse fever, the strain doesn't cause more severe cases. Existing vaccines that work on Omicron also appear to work well against Acturus.
Cases of Arcturus, which is also known as XBB.1.16, are rising across the world. The variant has been found in the US - as well as the United Kingdom among 29 countries in total - and while levels have so far remained low, health officials are keeping a close eye on it.
Reports from doctors in India, where the strain is rife, have also said they are seeing more children and adolescents with the variant presenting with conjunctivitis - or pink eye.
Indian paediatrician Vipn M. Vashishtha, also a member of the WHO's Vaccine Safety Net programme, said at the start of April that he had seen paediatric Covid cases "once again after a gap" of six months.
He explained youngsters were presenting with a high fever, cold and cough, and "itchy conjunctivitis" with "sticky eyes".
However, Dr Michael Chang, a paediatric infections diseases expert at UTHealth Houston and Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital, told Yahoo News there isn't enough evidence to prove the new Covid variant is causing conjunctivitis.
"We don't have the context of whether they're seeing that in some of the regions in India," he said. "We know their Covid cases are going up, and presumably, these kids are testing positive for Covid, but we don't know if they're testing positive for anything else either."
He explained there are other viruses which can cause pink eye - including adenovirus which is common in spring and summer.
"We are seeing adenovirus circulating," he said, "so even if Covid cases go up, unless you're doing testing for both Covid and adenovirus, which most people aren't... it may be difficult [to determine] what's causing your pink eye."
Arcturus, known as XBB.1.16, was mentioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in March as a "variant of monitoring" - a lesser threat than a "variant of interest". But, the status of the variant could be changed if there are signs of increase transmission or severity, or if it appears to be able to evade antibodies.
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