Influence of Nasopharyngeal Viral Load on the Spread of the Omicron BA.2 Variant

Marion Migueres; Chloé Dimeglio; Jean-Michel Mansuy; Florence Abravanel; Stéphanie Raymond; Justine Latour; Nicolas Jeanne; Noémie Ranger; Sébastien Lhomme; Karine Saune; Pauline Tremeaux; Jacques Izopet

doi:10.1093/cid/ciac563

Influence of Nasopharyngeal Viral Load on the Spread of the Omicron BA.2 Variant

Clin Infect Dis. 2023 Feb 8;76(3):e514-e517. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciac563.

Authors

Marion Migueres^{1

2

3}, Chloé Dimeglio^{1

2

3}, Jean-Michel Mansuy¹, Florence Abravanel^{1

2

3}, Stéphanie Raymond^{1

2

3}, Justine Latour¹, Nicolas Jeanne¹, Noémie Ranger¹, Sébastien Lhomme^{1

2

3}, Karine Saune^{1

2

3}, Pauline Tremeaux¹, Jacques Izopet^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Laboratoire de virologie, Institut fédératif de Biologie, Hôpital Purpan, CHU Toulouse, 31300 Toulouse, France.
² Institut Toulousain des Maladies Infectieuses et Inflammatoires (Infinity), INSERM UMR1291-CNRS UMR5051, 31300 Toulouse, France.
³ Université Toulouse III Paul-Sabatier, 31062 Toulouse, France.

PMID: 35796540
DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciac563

Abstract

We used variant typing polymerase chain reaction to describe the evolution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Omicron sublineages between December 2021 and mid-March 2022. The selective advantage of the BA.2 variant over BA.1 is not due to greater nasopharyngeal viral loads.

Keywords: Omicron; SARS-CoV-2; transmissibility; variant; viral load.

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Humans
Polymerase Chain Reaction
SARS-CoV-2 / genetics
Serologic Tests
Viral Load