As a new, more contagious COVID-19 variant quickly gains prevalence locally and nationally, many are wondering if the XBB.1.5 strain presents new symptoms than previous strains of the virus.
The variant is a highly contagious "recombinant" variant that spawned from two different BA.2 variants. It is related to the XBB variant, which was previously behind a COVID surge in Singapore.
"It's basically just a combination of two of the earlier subtypes, two variants," said Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady Tuesday.
While the variant is still presenting symptoms that have been noted to be consistent with COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, Arwady noted that flu-like symptoms are not as prevalent with XBB.1.5, particularly for those who are vaccinated and boosted.
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Arwady added that those who are up to date with their vaccinations may be more likely to experience cold-like symptoms if they contract the XBB.1.5 strain, with less prevalence of fevers or other flu-like symptoms.
"More often now we are seeing people - especially if they're fully up-to-date, maybe it's their second time getting COVID, whatever it might be - we're seeing more people actually just have cold-like symptoms, less likely to have those flu-like, really feeling very sick, the high fevers," Arwady said.
As far as the effectiveness of the bivalent boosters against the XBB.1.5 strain, those who are inoculated remain well-protected from severe disease thanks to the strain still falling under the omicron family.
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"It does look like the vaccine, the bivalent booster is providing continued protection against hospitalization with these variants. It really emphasizes the need to get a booster, particularly into vulnerable populations to provide continued protection from severe disease with these new variants," Dr. Andrew Pekosz said.
Pekosz is a virologist at Johns Hopkins University.
While both Pekosz and Arwady said that vaccines are remaining effective against serious disease, the effectiveness of monoclonal antibodies has faded with the recently emerging variants.
"As this virus continues to mutate, what we have seen is that all of what are called our monoclonal antibodies, our clinical monoclonal antibodies are inactive against these most recent subvariants," Arwady said.
Arwady added that these treatments are vital for immunocompromised individuals who did not receive a strong immune response from previous vaccinations. As more variants have emerged, the virus has begun to evade the effect of the monoclonal antibodies, rendering the method of treatment largely ineffective.
Though the variant is causing concern among health officials, Arwady said that XBB.1.5 remains a "variant of interest" as it is still under the omicron family. Arwady added that a "variant of concern" would be a rapidly-rising variant that represents a different letter of the Greek alphabet, something Arwady said she hopes does not happen again.
