Patient reinfected with a South African variant of COVID in serious condition

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One of the first confirmed cases of reinfection with the South African variant of the coronavirus was reported in France in a study published Wednesday in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The subject of the case was a 58-year-old patient with a history of asthma who had been infected with the South African variant four months after recovering from a first episode of COVID-19, according to the study.

In September of last year, the patient was diagnosed with COVID after exhibiting a mild fever and shortness of breath and receiving a positive PCR swab test. He recovered within days and tested negative twice in December.

In January, about four months after initially testing positive, the patient entered the hospital with recurring shortness of breath and fever and tested positive for the novel coronavirus again. Genome sequencing revealed that he was now infected with the South African variant. About a week after arriving at the hospital, the patient developed severe acute respiratory distress syndrome and was intubated and put on a ventilator.

Antibody tests revealed immunoglobin antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus. The patient had no signs of an immunologic disorder and was still in critical condition when the study was submitted for review.

The study pointed out that the first infection occurred a month before the emergence of the South African strain, ruling out the hypothesis that the re-infection was only persistent viral shedding.

Previous studies have suggested that those who recover from the virus usually have immunity to reinfection for at least six months, but there have been reports of reinfection even in people who have antibodies to the virus, with some cases more severe. after reinfection. .

The study published last week stressed that further investigation is “urgent” to assess cross-immunity between different variants of the virus and to monitor the vaccine’s effectiveness against new variants. Initial studies showed that treatments using blood plasma from recovered patients were less effective against the South African variant, and scientists have expressed concerns that the variant may be resistant to currently available vaccines, although the vaccine is still considered to be acceptably effective even against the various variants currently in circulation.
In late January, an Israeli infected with the novel coronavirus in August was re-infected with the South African variant, according to Ynet. However, in the Israeli case, the patient had no significant symptoms and infected no one else in his household with the second infection, despite having more difficult symptoms with the first infection. Professor Shai Efrati, director of the Sagol Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Research at Yitzhak Shamir Medical Center, which studied the Israeli case, believes that the antibodies from the first infection prevented the patient from developing a severe case or infecting with others with the second infection, even if they did not protect them from the virus.



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