COVID XBB.1.5 variant now accounts for 40% of US cases: CDC

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The omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant has rapidly spread to become the dominant COVID-19 mutation in the United States, now accounting for 40.5% of all cases.

The XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant as of this week knocked the BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 subvariants from their previous positions as the most detected coronavirus mutations, according to surveillance conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

This XBB subvariant, from which XBB.1.5 descends, is a recombinant of two subvariants from the BA.2 omicron subvariant. This means that it contains genetic data from two versions of the coronavirus from the BA.2 subvariant.

Regionally, XBB.1.5 now accounts for the majority of COVID-19 cases in the Northeast, identified as causing 75% of cases in New England and the New York Tri-State area.

The omicron XBB and XBB.1 subvariants were first identified in India. Some scientists, including Eric Topol, professor of molecular medicine at the Scripps Research Institute, have raised the possibility that XBB.1.5 may have mutated in New York.

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The BQ.1.1 omicron subvariant still commands the lion’s share of U.S. cases in the south and west, although its dominance appears to be diminishing in the southeastern region of the country.

While data on XBB.1.5 is currently limited, researchers at Columbia University recently published a paper in the journal Cell, finding that sublines of the BQ and XBB omicron subvariants had “significantly increased capacity to evade antibody protection, even among those who had received the bivalent booster dose.

“However, it is important to emphasize that although infections are now more likely, COVID-19 vaccines have been shown to remain effective in preventing hospitalization and serious illness, even against Omicron, as well as possibly reducing the risk of post-acute sequelae of COVID. -19 (PASC or long COVID),” the researchers note in their paper.

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