Scientists are learning more about a hybrid variant of COVID-19 that has been detected called “deltacron.”
Deltacron was first reported early this year, when it was thought to be a co-infection of the omicron and delta coronavirus variants (meaning people were possibly infected with two variants at once). Now, researchers believe it’s a single, hybrid variant that combines genes from both delta and omicron.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization decided to start tracking deltacron, but is not yet calling it a variant of concern.
“It’s got features of omicron and features of delta,” said Dr. John Swartzberg, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of California. He added the name of the hybrid variant could change in the future.
“It sounds pretty ominous if you take the worst aspects of delta, which was a more serious illness, and you combine it with the worst aspects of omicron which is very transmissible, then you have something that sounds pretty scary,” Swartzberg said. “There is absolutely no evidence that this new recombinant virus has those qualities at all.”
Deltacron has been detected in the United States, but at this point, it is not a major concern. So far, only a handful of cases have been confirmed. Plus, your body may already be primed to fight off this new variant.
