An expert has claimed that a new variant of Covid is throwing up another new symptom of the virus.
Luke O’Neill, who is a professor of Biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity College Dublin, said that there have been reports of people coming down with night sweats, the Irish Mirror reports.
This finding came as the BA.5 Omicron sub variant looks set to dominate in a number of countries, including here in the UK and in Ireland.
He said: “One extra symptom for BA.5 I saw this morning is night sweats.
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“The disease is slightly different because the virus has changed. There is some immunity to it with the T cells and so on, and that mix of your immune system and the virus being slightly different might give rise to a slightly different disease - with strangely enough - night sweats being a feature.”
The number of people that are estimated to have Covid in Scotland has surged in recent weeks following the emergence of the BA.4 and BA.5 variants.
One in 17 people in Scotland are believed to have contracted the virus in the week ending June 30 - which equates to around 312,800 people, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Experts at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) say that both variants of the virus appear to have a ‘growth advantage’ over previous strains.
Analysis from the health body suggests that BA.5 is growing 35.1 per cent faster than the currently dominant BA.2 Omicron variant.
They say that it is likely that BA.5 will become the dominant Covid variant in the UK.
As the virus mutates and changes, Professor O’Neill said that there is one key thing that is continuing to protect people from the most severe Covid cases.
He said: “Very importantly, if you're vaccinated and you're boosted, it doesn't progress into severe disease. Remember the ones who are getting sickest are unvaccinated or haven't had the booster. Hence the message: get the booster because it will give you this added protection.”
While the available vaccines are still considered our best protection against the virus right now, Professor O’Neill says he believes new ones will be developed ahead of the expected winter surge.
"Both Pfizer and Moderna have said they'll have an Omicron vaccine by September, and they'll have a BA.4/5 by October,” he explained.
"So when we get to that point, it would make sense to start using those newer ones. But... the current one is still giving good protection anyway.
"Like the flu, you'll change the vaccine based on the variant that's around at the time.”
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