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The first case of COVID-19 reinfection is believed to have occurred in Hong Kong. A 33-year-old man contracted the novel coronavirus this month after recovering from the coronavirus in April, according to multiple reports.
The man was returning to Hong Kong from a trip to Spain when researchers at the University of Hong Kong said he tested positive for the virus during an airport screening, according to the Japan Times.
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The reported reinfection marks “the world’s first documentation of a patient who recovered from COVID-19, but had another episode of COVID-19 afterward,” the researchers told the Japan Times.
Using genomic sequence analysis, the researchers were reportedly able to detect that the patient was infected with two different strains of the coronavirus. The patient did not show symptoms of the second infection, suggesting that “subsequent infections may be milder,” according to the Japan Times.
“Prior to this report, many believe that recovered COVID-19 patients have immunity against reinfection, however, there is evidence that some patients have decreasing antibody levels after a few months,” the researchers said. University of Hong Kong in a release release.
The new coronavirus.
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“Our results show that his second infection was caused by a new virus he acquired recently rather than prolonged viral shedding,” Dr. Kelvin Kai-Wang To, clinical microbiologist at the university, told The New York Times .
The World Health Organization has weighed in on the study, according to the Japanese Times, which noted that WHO technical officer Maria van Kerkhove told reporters it was important to document cases like this -this.
However, she warned “not to jump to conclusions,” noting that larger case studies over time are needed to better understand a patient’s antibody response to Sars-Cov-2, the new coronavirus.
Infectious disease specialists have told Fox News there have been anecdotal accounts of possible reinfection, but this is the first report involving a scientifically proven case.
California infectious disease specialist Dr Ravina Kullar said the report was concerning.
“There have been previous reports of suspected reinfection, but none of these cases have been confirmed by rigorous testing,” Kullar said.
Kullar, also a member of the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA), explained that patients recovering from the new coronavirus can shed viral fragments for weeks, giving some tests a positive result even if the virus is not more alive. But the 33-year-old’s case is a different scenario, Kullar noted.
“This report sequenced the virus from the two cycles of infection and found differences in the two types of virus, showing that the patient may have been infected a second time. This may support the conclusion that some patients [who] being infected with COVID-19 have decreasing antibody levels after just a few months, ”she says.
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Dr Aaron Glatt, an epidemiologist from Long Island, New York, made a similar statement, telling Fox News that this case is important because the reinfection of the virus was “a different strain of COVID-19, which makes it unlikely that” it is simply persistent. virus died from the first disease still detected. “
Glatt, also an IDSA member, warned to keep the results in perspective.
“While this clearly suggests what we suspected – that immunity to COVID-19 may not last a lifetime – it should be understood that this is the first case after more than 20 million cases of COVID-19 in the world. So while it is extremely important to realize the immunity may not last forever, at least in the short term, the immunity is actually quite good, ”he said.
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