More contagious variant XEC Is Switzerland facing a new corona wave?

The new corona variant XEC could soon dominate in Switzerland. Experts warn of a higher risk of infection, especially after the fall vacations.

The more contagious XEC variant could soon dominate in Switzerland. Meanwhile, a British study has raised eyebrows as it found memory loss in seriously ill Covid patients after infection, as the "Aargauer Zeitung" writes.

The fall vacations will soon end in all cantons and children will return to their closed classrooms. Schoolchildren were already considered the main spreaders of coronavirus infections during the pandemic. This has not changed, explains infectiologist Philipp Kohler from the Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen.

With the start of school and the colder months, the likelihood of more Sars-CoV-2 infections increases as society generally moves closer together again. A slight increase can already be seen in Swiss wastewater. The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) therefore recommends that people at risk get vaccinated against flu and coronavirus from today.

Corona numbers are rising in Germany

Corona numbers are already rising in Germany. The focus is on a new variant: XEC. This Omikron sub-variant JN.1 is apparently replacing the currently predominant KP.3. "The XEC variant is also circulating in Switzerland and has already been detected in wastewater," explains Richard Neher, virus analyst at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, to the "Aargauer Zeitung".

According to Neher, XEC now accounts for around half of the circulating variants in Europe. It is also spreading in North America and Oceania. The variant is rarely found in Asia. Wastewater data from Switzerland shows that XEC already accounted for around 20 percent of the viral load a month ago and is likely to dominate in winter.

According to British media, corona patients felt sicker with an XEC infection than with previous variants. The disease has flu-like symptoms. A British doctor reports fever, cough, headache and aching limbs, while earlier variants were more likely to cause cold symptoms. However, she emphasizes that these data mainly come from patients with more severe courses, which could possibly distort the clinical picture of the XEC variant.

New corona variant is more contagious than the previous one

The fact that patients feel sicker with an XEC infection could be explained by the constantly mutating virus, says infectiologist Kohler. However, the decisive factor is whether this leads to more hospitalizations and deaths, for which there are no worrying signs so far. Thanks to the broad immunity in the population, there is generally good protection against severe cases, even with new Sars-CoV-2 variants. However, Kohler recommends that people at risk should be vaccinated regularly in order to be better protected against new variants.

Richard Neher explains that XEC is a combination of two JN.1 sub-variants that differ from other common variants such as KP.3 at two positions in the spike protein. "These mutations appear to give the variant a slight transmission advantage," says Neher. This means that this variant will be slightly more contagious. However, in light of the evolution of the virus over the past year, this is not unusual.

The FOPH recommends the two vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer, which are designed for the JN.1 variant, to people at risk. "The new vaccine will certainly also have a partial effect against XEC. It is therefore clear that people at risk should be vaccinated with the new vaccine," says Kohler. The experts are generally of the opinion that the new vaccines work well against XEC.

Corona can cause brain damage

A British study also shows a link between coronavirus infections and dementia. It is known that the virus can directly damage the brain and that inflammation caused by the infection can trigger neurological symptoms such as difficulty concentrating and memory problems. One of these studies was published in the journal "Nature Medicine".