Online and on social media, reports are piling up about a new Sars-Cov-2 variant that is currently on the rise: BA.3.2, also known as Cicada.

That’s what it’s all about:

  • The Omicron variant BA.3.2, which is currently the focus of attention, has been circulating since 2024 and is being closely monitored because of many mutations.
  • The variant could partially bypass immunity, but causes similar symptoms and, according to the WHO, no more severe courses.
  • Cicada is also found in Switzerland, but does not currently dominate the incidence of infection.

The pandemic is over, the coronavirus Sars-Cov-2 continues to circulate. In the form of ever new variants. Currently, many eyes are on the BA.3.2 variant. Her nickname is: Cicada. This is no coincidence (see box). Like its predecessors – such as Stratus (Frankenstein) and Nimbus – BA.3.2 is also an Omicron variant.

That’s why BA.3.2 is called Cicada

Even though most people are currently hearing about Cicada for the first time, it is not really new. It has been circulating since 2024, albeit largely unnoticed. BA.3.2 is thus reminiscent of the rarely occurring cicadas. The insects spend most of their lives, often 13 to 17 years, as nymphs in secret underground. Only during mating do they come to light en masse. In the USA, people sometimes speak of “Swarmaggadon”, which means something like “swarm catastrophe”.
When they come, they come in droves: a cicada in the tree.
When they come, they come in droves: a cicada in the tree.Unsplash

Cicada has numerous mutations

Experts are currently monitoring the development very closely. The main reason for this is the unusually high number of mutations of the variant. This is because BA.3.2 has 70 to 75 changes in the so-called spike protein – the part of the virus with which it enters human cells. This could make it easier for Cicada to partially circumvent existing immunity. Those after contact with the virus, but also those through vaccinations.

More mutations, more infections?

“The number of mutations makes it less likely that the current vaccines are highly effective against this variant,” US infectiologist Robert H. Hopkins told USA Today. Epidemiologist Kyle B. Enfield from the University of Virginia takes a similar view, as he writes on theconversation.com: “The mutations make it difficult for the immune system to recognize the virus.”

The World Health Organization (WHO), on the other hand, said in December that it expects “that the currently approved Covid-19 vaccines continue to offer protection against severe courses of the disease.” In the same letter, it stated that BA.3.2 was classified as a “Sars-Cov-2 variant under observation”.

Symptoms: How does BA.3.2 manifest itself?

Despite the large number of mutations, Cicada causes symptoms similar to previous variants: fever, fatigue, cough, fatigue, runny nose or headaches and aching limbs, but also diarrhea. As with the Nimbus variant, there are reports of razor-like sore throats with BA.3.2, but there is no reliable data on this yet.

The WHO said in December that there was no data “indicating increased severity, increased hospitalizations or deaths related to this variant”. This is also the view of other experts such as epidemiologist Enfield or infectiologist William Schaffner from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville (US state of Tennessee).

The WHO said in December that there was no data “indicating increased severity, increased hospitalizations or deaths related to this variant”. This is also the view of other experts such as epidemiologist Enfield or infectiologist William Schaffner from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville (US state of Tennessee).

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News – Curated by Amanda Scott, Alias Group Creative
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