“New COVID Symptom in Children: Glued Eyes Discovered with Omicron Variant Arcturus in Germany”

The Omicron variant Arcturus has now arrived in Germany. An Indian researcher has now found a new symptom in children.

Bremen – The Omicron variant Arcturus arrived in Germany at the beginning of April. Most cases of the corona variant have so far been in India. The Indian corona expert Vipin Vashishtha has now reported a newly occurring Covid symptom that mainly occurs in children: sticky eyes.

Glued eyes – new corona symptom discovered in children

The omicron recombinant XBB.1 is spreading in Germany more and more. Around 76 percent of the corona infections in the Federal Republic can be traced back to it, as the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) writes in its weekly report. As with previous corona variants, the main symptoms are respiratory infections such as a runny nose, sore throat and cough. After three to five days you should see a significant improvement. Symptoms can be much more severe in older people and people with certain pre-existing conditions. Long COVID can also become problematic there.

A pediatrician from India has now even discovered a completely new symptom that occurs mainly in children. In addition to being a pediatrician, Vipin Vashishtha is also a researcher at Mangla Hospital and Research Center in India. The doctor from India is closely monitoring the spread of the omicron variant Arcturus (XBB.1.16). As Vashishtha announced on his Twitter account, he recently observed some Arcturus cases in children, in which they not only got a high fever and a cold and cough. In addition, there was an itchy conjunctivitis that made the eyes sticky.

Arcturus is now also being observed by the RKI

Arcturus arrived in Germany in early April but is primarily active in India. At the same time as the number of Arcturus diseases increased, there was a significant increase in the incidence of COVID-19 in the Asian country. This is another reason why the omicron recombinant XBB.1.16 is now on the World Health Organization (WHO) watch list. However, the RKI does not yet recommend another booster vaccination due to Arcturus.

The last observed symptom of sticky eyes in children was described by Vipin Vashishtha as an “infantile phenotype”, a characteristic of Arcturus infection that only occurs in children. The symptom did not appear in previous studies. In connection with the new symptom, the number of infections in children also increased. Compared to the Arcturus symptoms in children, the infection in adults is said to be more like that of other omicron variants: with fever, sore throat and body aches.

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