A new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, dubbed Cicada, is less susceptible to vaccination and appears to discriminate based on age, according to scientists.
The variant appears less threatening to older individuals, preferring young people instead.
Cicada, formally named BA.3.2, is a mutation of the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 branch that first appeared in 2021.
It has been spotted in 23 countries, including the United States, say reports from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The 2025-2026 Covid-19 vaccine provides the least protection against Cicada.
On the other hand, reports show that Cicada’s severity is also fairly mild, compared with other strains.
Kids are five times more likely to be infected by the Cicada variant than other versions of the virus, data shows.
Amateur Covid-19 tracker Ryan Hisner, an American schoolteacher from Indiana, said youths aged 18 and under are five times as likely to get Cicada, making up 63.4% of Cicada cases, compared with 11.9% of all other strains.
Hisner publishes his data on X and X-substitute site, XCancel, and has gained respect from researchers like Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center evolutionary virologist Professor Dr Jesse Bloom.
Hisner is the first source he looks at each day for new information about the disease, Prof Bloom said in a release about Cicada from the Universi-ty of Nebraska Medical Center news webpage.
“Ryan has an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the virus,” Prof Bloom states.
“It’s refreshing to see someone who is so up to speed on the literature – more so than any other ‘professional’ I’ve ever met.” – By Karl Hille/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service
