The FLiRT COVID variants: What are they and are they more contagious?

May 24, 2024

Covid-19

The FLiRT COVID variants: What are they and are they more contagious?

NEW YORK, May 24 (Reuters) - The so-called FLiRT variants of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that cause COVID-19 have been the dominant forms of the virus circulating this year globally, according to the World Health Organization

The moniker FLiRT is an acronym for the locations of the mutations the variants share on the virus' spike protein. One of them, called KP.2, has become the most commonly circulating variant in the United States over the past month, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Here is what you need to know about FLiRT.

HOW ARE THE FLIRT VARIANTS DIFFERENT FROM PREVIOUS VARIANTS?

The FLiRT variants, which also include KP.2's "parental" lineage JN.1, have three key mutations on their spike protein that could help them evade antibodies, according to Johns Hopkins University

ARE THE FLIRT VARIANTS MORE CONTAGIOUS OR LIKELY TO CAUSE MORE SEVERE ILLNESS?

Dr. Aaron Glatt, chief of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital in Oceanside, New York, and a spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America said he has not seen evidence of an uptick in disease or hospitalizations, based on the data he tracks and experience with his own patients