Night Sweats? Everything You Need to Know About BA.5 Symptoms

Masking up right now doesn’t sound too bad, especially if you live in the Northeast and Midwest, which have become hotspots, according to a New York Times analysis. A new Omicron subvariant—called BA.5—is now the dominant SARS-CoV-2 strain in the United States, and early reports suggest it is spreading quickly and widely. In fact, “BA.5 gets an A-plus for contagiousness,” according to William Shaffner, MD, a professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville.

We know BA.5 has become the dominant strain, but how worried should you be and what symptoms should you expect if you contract it? We break down everything you need to know about BA.5 below.

What are the main symptoms of BA.5 so far?

As of now, there haven’t been any large studies on the symptoms of BA.5, but many people who have contracted the variant have shared their symptoms.

“We’re hearing a lot about back and neck aches and pains,” Dr. Shaffner tells SELF. “It’s all anecdotal, but as people have looked at previous variants, the distinctions between the variants have not been very large.”

Some people have shed light on the fact that the symptoms of BA.5 mimic those of meningitis, such as stiff neck and a severe headache.

However, as we’ve come to realize throughout the pandemic, everyone is different. For example, one person may have a high fever and severe headache, while the other one experiences mild cold symptoms and no fever.

As for the loss of taste and smell, which have become a telltale sign of COVID, experts aren’t certain if people with BA.5 can expect to experience this symptom.

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Are night sweats and loss of sleep a symptom?

Have you been waking up with night sweats and having trouble sleeping lately? While there are many reasons you may be experiencing insomnia, one cause may be BA.5.

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According to Luke O’Neill, a professor of biochemistry at Trinity College in Ireland, the symptom is “another curveball” that is a result of the new subvariant colliding with immune systems resulting in a “different disease.”

Intense night sweats have also been linked to previous Omicron sub-variants.

“The disease is slightly different because the virus has changed,” O’Neill adds. “There is some immunity to it — obviously with the T-cells and so on — and that mix of your immune system and the virus being slightly different might give rise to a slightly different disease, strangely enough, night sweats being a feature.”

So what are night sweats?

According to Mayo Clinic, night sweats are “repeated episodes of extreme perspiration that may soak your night clothes or bedding and are related to an underlying medical condition or illness”.

Does BA.5 cause more severe COVID illness?

There isn’t much research to determine how severe BA.5 is compared to previous variants. However, even a mild infection can lead to heavy fatigue and other symptoms that may be unpleasant and take time to recover from.

As with previous subvariants of COVID, you may have a higher risk of serious illness if you belong to one of the vulnerable groups. These groups include: people with underlying health conditions, people who are immunocompromised, pregnant people, and people over age 65.

If you are unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or haven’t gotten boosted, your risk for serious illness is also higher.

“COVID seeks out the unvaccinated and the partially vaccinated among us,” Dr. Shaffner says. “Those two groups continue to be the groups that are most frequently hospitalized.”

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Do the current COVID vaccines protect against BA.5?

In short, vaccines will not keep you completely safe. However, they will lower your risk of developing COVID. Vaccines are also the best way to avoid severe illness and hospitalization.

As we know, the effectiveness of vaccines wane over time, particularly for older adults. Vaccines already on the market also may not be as effective for certain variants of COVID.

How to protect yourself and those around you

If you begin feeling sick, you should treat it as a COVID infection, until you are certain it isn’t one. BA. 5 is a highly infectious strain that is rapidly circulating. If your first test is negative, keep testing to be absolutely certain that you don’t have COVID. It often takes several days post-exposure for a COVID infection to return a positive test, according to the CDC.

As previously mentioned, the best way to protect yourself from COVID is by remaining up to date with all your vaccinations and boosters.

“We can’t blow [COVID] off or think it’s going to disappear or that it’s gone,” Dr. Shaffner says. “The virus is in charge. The best response obviously is vaccines—they really work.”