A new COVID-19 variant has recently emerged, and although it has not yet become dominant, experts suggest that XEC could be the next big variant to watch out for.
2024 is set to be something of a “summer of Covid”. The virus has made its presence felt at many of this year’s major sporting events, including the Paris Olympics and the Tour de France, and the US has seen a steady rise in cases in recent weeks.
While SARS-CoV-2 is not a completely seasonal virus, many people will be keeping an eye on COVID statistics as the Northern Hemisphere heads into winter, and the smorgasbord of other infections that tend to spike this time of year (hello flu, it's been around for quite a while). So, what's new in COVID-land?
Well, the dominant variant in the US, where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to collect detailed data, is still a member of the KP.3 lineage, KP.3.1.1. The latest data at the time of writing shows that it accounts for 52.7 percent of positive COVID tests.
The family tree of the Covid virus is reaching soap-opera levels of complexity at this point, so here’s a quick refresher. The KP.3 variants emerged as members of a group of so-called FLiRT variants, which themselves descended from JN.1. The original was KP.3, which rose to prominence from the other FLiRT variants and was given its own name, FLuQE. The next iteration, KP.3.1.1 (which some are calling deFLuQE) came about when the original FLuQE variant picked up a deletion mutation.
The reason we haven't had any new Greek letters for a while is that we're technically still on Omicron – these are all subtypes of the original Omicron lineage, and they're not far enough away to be given a new alphabet name.
The dominance of KP.3.1.1 is not expected to change in the near future, thanks to its mutations that make it particularly immune-resistant. But a new variant is emerging in Europe that has piqued the interest of experts. It's called XEC, and it was reportedly first identified in Germany in June, after which it has spread to several other countries.
“XEC is definitely taking over,” said Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. Los Angeles Times,
“We're really going to have to keep an eye on this — because the overall information on this isn't very strong right now — but I think in the next couple of weeks, especially if it starts to increase more, we'll hear a little bit more about it,” said Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious diseases for Kaiser Permanente Southern California.
In a recent update for the American Medical Association, Dr. Andrea Garcia, vice president for science, medicine and public health, agreed that XEC is becoming an area to keep an eye on.
“I think the other thing to keep an eye on, and we know doctors and scientists are keeping an eye on this as well, is another sub-variant, and that is XEC, which could overtake KP.3.1.1 in the coming weeks,” Dr. Garcia said.
The good news is that the risk of severe illness and death from these latest variants has dropped significantly compared with the early days of the pandemic, thanks in part to immunity from vaccines and previous infections.
Covid shots have recently been updated to more closely align with the variants that are circulating, and the message is that keeping your vaccines up to date is the best way to avoid a severe case of Covid-19. American households will once again be offered free test kits this winter to help answer the eternal question of the season: Is it a cold or Covid?
As for symptoms of the latest variant, the CDC's list of symptoms to monitor remains unchanged, and includes cough, fever, sore throat and nasal congestion.