'Swallowing razor blades': What to know about the painful symptom linked to latest COVID strain
The World Health Organization recently designated NB.1.8.1 as a variant under monitoring. The strain, nicknamed 'Nimbus,' has reportedly been causing extremely painful sort throats in those who have been infected with it.
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Cases of the Nimbus variant have been rising. It has been detected in 22 countries as of May 18 and made up 10.7 per cent of the global COVID samples taken in late April, WHO said. That was considered a 'significant rise in prevalence' since it only made up 2.5 per cent of global COVID samples four weeks prior. However, WHO deemed the overall risk of Nimbus to be low.
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'Despite a concurrent increase in cases and hospitalizations in some countries where NB.1.8.1 is widespread, current data do not indicate that this variant leads to more severe illness than other variants in circulation,' according to WHO.
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It has been described by some as 'akin to swallowing shattered glass or razor blades,' news network NTD reported.
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However, infectious disease specialist at University of California San Francisco Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, told the San Francisco Chronicle that a sore throat from COVID is 'not novel at all.'
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Other symptoms of COVID include runny nose, new or worsening cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fever, chills, fatigue or weakness, muscle or body aches, new loss of smell or taste, headache, abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting.
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This particular strain 'isn't too different from the Omicron variant, but it does have some tweaks to its spike protein,' according to general practitioner from private healthcare centre Pall Mall Medical in the United Kingdom Dr. Chun Tang, The Independent reported. That means it could 'spread a bit more easily or slip past some of our existing immunity.'
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'That said, early signs suggest it doesn't seem to cause more serious illness, but of course, we're still learning more about it,' said Tang.
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