This may be a bit hard to swallow. But recently you may have heard mention of new term “razor blade throat” to describe a possible COVID-19 symptom. And chances are razor blades fall way down below pizza and hot dogs on the list of things that you’d like in your throat. But there have been more and more informal reports of a severe, razor blade-like soreness in the throat, which have corresponded with the emergence and rise of the NB.1.8.1 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variant. This is the variant behind the recent COVID-19 surge in China and that’s now rapidly spreading in the U.S., as I recently detailed in Forbes. Does this mean that the NB.1.8.1 variant is leading to some other new type of COVID-19? Not exactly. But it is yet another reminder to stay sharp about what COVID-19 can do and the possibility of yet another Summer COVID-19 surge.
‘Nimbus’ Is An Informal Name For The NB.1.8.1 Variant
There’s also an informal new term being bandied about on social media to describe this newish SARS-CoV-2 variant. The name is “Nimbus,” which is probably a bit easier to remember than the strong password-sounding NB.1.8.1. It looks like the first person to use this name for the NB.1.8.1 variant was T. Ryan Gregory, PhD, a professor of integrative biology at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, when he did so on tweet (or X) in late May.
Now, nimbus may sound like a combination of the words “nimble” and “incubus.” But it is a meteorological term for a jagged type of storm cloud. It’s also got a rather divine definition, referring to the shining cloud that surrounds a deity—be it Zeus, Athena or maybe Taylor Swift—when he or she appears on earth.
The naming of SARS-CoV-2 variants and subvariants has been quite an odyssey for the past five years. It started off as a Greek odyssey of sorts with a formal variant naming convention that used progressively different Greek letters like alpha, beta and delta. But not too long after the Omicron variants became dominant, it was no longer all Greek to everyone as that naming schema did not continue. The default became just these alphanumeric sequences devised by scientists following the genetics of the variants that looked more like the names of Star Wars droids. That motivated some like Gregory on social media to give various new emerging variants more memorable names such as Arcturus, Kraken, Eris and Pirola.
The NB.1.8.1 has already caught the attention of who else but the World Health Organization. The WHO on May 23 declared this variant as “a variant under monitoring,” based on the mutations in its spike proteins and its fairly rapid spread in different parts of the world. It’s already become the second most common SARS-CoV-2 variant in the U.S.. For the week ending on June 7, NB.1.8.1 was detected in around 37% of collected and tested samples from COVID-19 cases. That’s only a single percentage point or so behind the leader of the pack LP.8.1, according to the CDC. Take these numbers with a gigantic fanny pack of salt, though, since a large percentage of COVID-19 the U.S. are going untested and unreported these days.
‘Razor Blade Throat’ Is An Informal Term For A Very Sore Throat
Of course, informal reports aren’t the same as peer-reviewed scientific studies or data from established clinical surveillance systems. It’s also difficult to tell how common this so-called “razor blade throat” may be. After all, social media and the Internet can make something seem more common or popular than it really is. For example, it’s not as if everyone was putting Tide Pods in their mouths several years ago.
Moreover, it’s not clear what percentage of these “razor blade throats” are actually cases of COVID-19. A number of different things can cause “pharyngitis,” which is a facny medical term for inflammation of your pharynx. Your pharynx sits behind your nasal cavity and mouth and is the throughway to your esophagus. Basically anything that goes down your pie hole will travel through this muscular tube.
Lots of different viruses and bacteria can cause pharyngitis. Allergies can give you pharyngitis as well. So can acid reflux or eating things that are particularly hot or spicy. Pharyngitis can be a sign of a growth or tumor too. Heck, even sleeping with your mouth open can dry out the mucus membranes of your pharynx to the point where you have a very sore throat. It’s important to note that the degree of soreness is not a reliable indicator of what may be causing the pharyngitis.
Since your typical viral infection should clear up well within a week, if your sore throat lasts longer than a week, contact a qualified healthcare professional. This means someone with real medical training like a doctor and not just some person trying to sell you some type of magical treatment. It will be important to rule out any of the uh-oh stuff and treat problems that need treatment like a bacteria infection.
A ‘Razor Blade Throat’ Could Be A Sign Of COVID-19 But Not Necessarily
Ultimately, you can’t tell what’s causing a very sore throat without a real medical exam and further testing. Therefore, you should never begin a sentence with, “I have a severe sore throat, therefore I must have [such and such].” The next step in a medical evaluation of a very sore throat is checking for other symptoms and a true health professional performing a physical exam, which should include looking at your throat, tongue and other things connected to your throat like your ears. Such an evaluation could entail swabbing the back of your throat and sending the sample to be checked for things like strep and SARS-CoV-2.
These days you may hear the words, “I’m pretty sure I don’t have COVID” without the words that need to follow, namely “because I tested negative.” Again the only way to tell whether or not you actually have an infection like COVID-19 is through such testing. And that cotton-swab-used-to-touch-the-back-of-the-throat-so-that-it-feels-like-my-brain-is-being-tickled test that you get at a health clinic is a lot more accurate than those home COVID-19 tests. Home tests have a very high false negative rates, meaning that just because the test is negative doesn’t mean you can really rule out COVID-19.
Nonetheless, a sore throat has long been one possible symptom of COVID-19. It became even more common with all the Omicron variants. So a sore throat that feels like razor blades wouldn’t be a new symptoms or any indication that the NB.1.8.1 variant is causing on average different or more severe outcomes than previous variants.
That doesn’t mean, though, that the NB in NB.1.8.1 should stand for no big deal. COVID-19 has still been landing people in the hospital, killing a number of them and saddling many more with the awful consequences of long COVID. Just because many politicians aren’t talking about COVID-19 doesn’t mean that it’s ceased being a threat. As I’ve written previously, there is evidence that the NB.1.8.1 is better able to bind to human cells, making it potentially more transmissible. The rapid spread of the NB.1.8.1 seems to support this possibility.
Again, it’s not clear how many of these “razor blade throat” cases have occurred to date and how many are due to the new SARS-CoV-2 variant. But chances are you are not hearing this symptom and thinking, “I want some of that.” Therefore, it’s better to be prepared for this possibility and another possible Summer COVID-19 surge. The same evidence-based precautions are available including wearing good quality face masks (e.g., N95 respirators) when in more crowded areas, maintaining good ventilation and air purification in indoor locations and washing your hands frequently and thoroughly. Also, consider staying up to date on COVID-19 vaccination, accounting for the fact that immune protection from the vaccine usually starts to wane at the four-to-six-month mark. It helps to keep your immune system sharp so that you don’t have to experience the sharp pains that may come with “razor blade throat.”