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(AP) – If I have already had the coronavirus, can I catch it again?
It is possible, but such cases seem rare. It is increasingly clear that people whose bodies have built up a strong defense against the virus are unlikely to test positive again for at least several months, if not longer.
It is not unusual to develop immunity to a virus after infection, as our bodies are generally better at recognizing and fighting off bugs that they have encountered before. And that appears to be the case with the coronavirus as well, although scientists are still trying to determine how long protection could last.
Some re-infections have been confirmed, but two new studies suggest this is highly unusual.
In one case, only two of the 1,265 health workers in the UK who had previously been infected ended up testing positive for the coronavirus again within six months. In another study of people in the United States, only 0.3% of those infected tested positive for the virus in the next few months – about the same rate of positivity as the British study.
The results bode well for the COVID-19 vaccines being deployed, which trigger the kind of immune responses studies have found to be protective.
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The AP answers your questions about the coronavirus in this series. Submit them to: [email protected].
Read the previous viral questions:
Can employers make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory?
Will children be able to get vaccinated against COVID-19?
What winter sports are the safest to practice during the pandemic?
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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