“Cicada” COVID variant spreading: Are the symptoms different from other variants?

You may have seen the word “cicada” popping up alongside COVID lately. It sounds strange, almost unrelated. But this nickname is being used online for a newer sub-lineage of the COVID-19 virus, often linked to BA.3.2-type mutations within the broader Omicron variant family. And while the name is catchy, the science behind it is still being closely watched not feared.Right now, global health agencies like the World Health Organization and tracking platforms such as GISAID are monitoring emerging subvariants, including those loosely referred to as “cicada.” Early signals suggest it behaves much like other recent Omicron offshoots, highly transmissible, but not necessarily more severe in most people.“The BA 3.2 is actually a hyper mutated variant, it has around 75 mutations compared to the previous Omicron variants. So it is a totally different new virus compared to the previous Omicron variants. These mutations help this virus in escaping our immune system,” Dr. Mahesh Kumar J M, Lead Consultant – Internal Medicine, KIMS Hospitals Bengaluru told TOI Health. “So what happens is the vaccines which we have taken sometimes may not be able to protect us from this variant because this has got lots of mutations and it can escape our immune systems very easily. The first thing is there are 75 mutations, so this is a totally new virus and this has got the ability to escape our immune system and in spite of you wearing a mask, you take all precautions, it can enter your body and it can cause infection. So the most important thing is it causes very mild symptoms compared to previous Omicron variants, previous COVID variants,” the doctor adds. Dr. Mahesh says Omicron variants and the previous COVID variants used to cause respiratory tract infections in the lungs. The lungs used to get affected, they used to get cough, they used to get breathing difficulty, they used to get pneumonias. But this BA 3.2 will only cause stuffy nose, nose is congested, throat can become congested.“They can have feverish feeling, they can have body pain like any other viral fever, they will have symptoms for 5 to 7 days where they feel weak, tired, low grade fever but it will not cause serious pneumonias. It will not make you go and get, they will come to the hospital seeking some basic OPD care but none of them will require admission. Nobody will have pneumonia, nobody will go to ICU, nobody will die because of this. It will only cause a few mild symptoms which are manageable with simple OPD medications and home remedies,” he adds.So basically the newer variant of COVID which we are seeing is actually a new virus which is totally different compared to the previous Omicron variants because it has got many mutations, explains Dr. Mahesh. “Even though it's a new virus, the symptoms it causes are very very mild and it can easily infect you. For example, if I get the infection, people who interact with me, who come close to me or my family members can easily, it very fast. For example, in a city like Bangalore where there is overcrowding, for example you have metros, there is overcrowding, you have public transports where there is overcrowding or you have market places, you have malls. So this infection can spread very fast from one person to another but even though it causes some fever and throat pain and all these symptoms for four to five days, it is self-limiting. It does not require any antibiotics or antivirals. It will settle down by itself provided people are educated that it's a simple variant. It will resolve by itself,” he explains. Medical experts consulted This article includes expert inputs shared with TOI Health by:Dr. Mahesh Kumar J M, Lead Consultant – Internal Medicine, KIMS Hospitals BengaluruInputs were used to explain the new covid variant, cicada and its nature of transmission.