Corona variant “Juno” comes with new symptoms

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The currently dominant variant “Juno” causes three new symptoms not previously associated with an infection.

While the coronavirus wave is already dying down, it has been dominated by another new variant, JN.1, or “Juno,” which has seen a massive increase over Christmas. This is also shown by wastewater monitoring. Juno is a descendant of the Omikron variant BA. 2.86, “Pirola”. In its latest update, the World Health Organization (WHO) claims that JN.1 poses a relatively low risk to public health, especially in well-vaccinated countries. However, the rapid spread of the strain may indicate that it is more transmissible than previous variants. JN.1 is distinguished by an additional spike protein, which the researchers believe makes it more infectious. However, this increased infectivity does not mean it automatically causes a more severe disease. After all, every mutation has the potential to make someone seriously ill.

According to a survey of British COVID patients, a runny nose is the most common symptom (reported by 31.1% of respondents). This is followed by cough in 22.9% of cases, headache in 20.1% of cases, fatigue in 19.6% of cases, muscle pain in 15.8% of cases, and sore throat in 13.2% of cases. A recent report from England suggests that the variant causes three new symptoms that are not generally associated with COVID infection: Firstly, anxiety and difficulty falling asleep were reported by 10.8% and 10.5% of survey participants, respectively, and secondly, gastrointestinal symptoms, primarily diarrhea. The loss of taste and smell, which used to be considered the main characteristic of COVID-19, was only reported in 2–3% of cases.
Experts point out that the severity and type of symptoms of the JN.1 variant still depend on a person’s health status and immunity to COVID-19 infection. According to the USA’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), existing data has shown that the current vaccines help the immune system block Pirola (BA.2.86). Therefore, the agency assumes this is also the case with JN.1.