As Taiwan experiences another wave of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, doctors report seeing a high number of children with neurological diseases, including encephalitis. According to a research report by a Taipei hospital, the surge in encephalitis cases appears to be correlated with an Omicron subvariant mutation.
The study by Tri-Service General Hospital in Taipei, published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, found a new mutation in the S protein that belongs to the Omicron BA.2.3.7 lineage.
The K97E mutation had not been observed in Taiwan before the surge of Omicron cases, and researchers infer that with this mutation, the virus can cause a cytokine storm, which may explain the sudden rise of pediatric COVID-19 patients with adverse neurological complications….