Scientists said that they have identified a new hybrid version of the coronavirus called “deltacron” — which combines the delta and the omicron variants of the virus.
Driving the news: The variant is considered “a recombinant virus, meaning it has melded-together genetic information from both variants,” per NBC News.
- Cases are considered rare.
What they’re saying: “Delta basically grabbed omicron’s spike protein,” Jeremy Kamil, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Louisiana State University Health Shreveport, told NBC News. “This is essentially delta trying to hang on by plagiarizing from omicron.”
Symptoms: Dr. Etienne Simon-Loriere, a virologist at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, told The New York Times that the body will often recognize the deltacron variant as the omicron variant, meaning your COVID-19 symptoms from deltacron may resemble the omicron variant.
Business Insider used data from the Zoe COVID Symptom Study to compile a list of the top 14 omicron variant symptoms, which include:
- Runny nose.
- Headache.
- Fatigue.
- Sneezing.
- Sore throat.
- Persistent cough.
- Hoarse voice.
- Chills or shivers.
- Fever.
- Dizziness.
- Brain fog.
- Muscle pains.
- Loss of smell.
- Chest pain.
Worth noting: William Lee, the chief science officer at Helix, told USA Today that there is no major concern for deltacron yet due to the limited amount of cases.
- “The fact that there is not that much of it, that even the two cases we saw were different, suggests that it’s probably not going to elevate to a variant of concern level,” he told USA Today.