Premier Medical Laboratory Services (PMLS) reported finding one of the first cases of Omicron BA.2 in the U.S. in a sample they sequenced from the state of Florida.
The BA.2 subvariant has been dubbed “stealth omicron” because it is difficult to detect as a mutation by PCR-based testing, the most common testing method for COVID-19.
The stealth omicron subvariant does not have the S-gene dropout characteristic that could be found in the original BA.1 strain, making it difficult to distinguish BA.2 as the omicron variant vs. other COVID-19 variants by PCR-based testing alone.
In Denmark, BA.2 is now outpacing its predecessor, omicron BA.1, since it is more transmissible. A study conducted by Denmark’s Statens Serum Institut (SSI), found that people infected with the BA.2 subvariant were roughly 33% more likely to infect others, compared to those infected with BA.1.
Throughout the world, the subvariant is currently present in 57 countries as reported to the GISAID database. With this data, scientists are determining how deadly the strain is and how well it evades the current vaccines.
“Increasing access to data on these new variants is so important for our overall understanding of the virus and how it will affect the population,” said Kevin Murdock, CEO of Premier Medical Laboratory Services.
As of Feb. 1, 2022, the state of Florida reported two cases of BA.2. Now, PMLS has identified an additional case for the state and will continue to conduct surveillance to help gather vital data on this new omicron subvariant and others.
