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One of the dominant emotions in recovering is the relief that COVID-19 is over. Whether the course of the disease was asymptomatic or required long-term treatment or even hospitalization, knowing that the fight against the coronavirus was successful is uplifting and takes away anxiety. At least for a moment, because one of the many doubts about the SARS-CoV-2 virus concerns the risk of reinfection. Is it even possible to get COVID-19 again? And if so, how long after the first infection and with what course?
- The first officially confirmed case of coronavirus recurrence was recorded in August 2020.
- According to research, antibodies after COVID-19 should remain at least 5-7 months
- In most cases, reinfection is milder
- However, there are known cases of patients who underwent the second infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus completely differently than the first – milder or, on the contrary, more severe, with hospitalization
- Doctors confirm that there are already patients who get COVID-19 for the third time
- You can find more up-to-date information on the TvoiLokony home page
Until last August, information was unknown to suggest that any patient with COVID-19 behind them would contract the coronavirus for a second time. However, there were two reservations about this optimistic statistic. For one thing, doctors and patients alike have had (and still have) had a hard time telling the difference between the common cold and COVID-19. For many months, little was known about the new virus, and even experts thought a quick reinfection was at least questionable. Symptoms resembling SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection were therefore often classified as a cold or flu, and the patient was rarely referred for another smear.
Second, it seemed too early for the healers to completely “get rid” of the anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies their organisms had produced when exposed to the virus. Although the mechanism of their formation is still unknown to this day, and it is not known for how long they last, it was suspected that those who fell ill at the beginning of the pandemic were relatively resilient at least until the end of summer or early autumn 2020.
He would confirm it the first official COVID-19 recurrence, reported on August 24, 2020. The 33-year-old from Hong Kong first contracted the coronavirus in March and later in August while traveling to Spain where he came into contact with an infected person.
Yuen Kwok-yung, a microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong, told RTHK at the time that the man was not the first to recover the pathogen. The difference, however, was that in other people its amount was only a trace and indicated that the body was gradually cleansing the virus. In the blood of the 33-year-old, there was not only much more coronavirus, but also its genome significantly different from the virus genome that attacked him in March (researchers compared samples from both periods of illness).
According to experts, this could indicate that either the man had contact with the mutated version of SARS-CoV-2 and the produced antibodies did not work against it, or that his immune system – due to some disorder – did not work properly.
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SARS-CoV-2 antibodies – how long do they last?
There is also a third hypothesis that is being talked about more and more today. The antibodies made during the first contact with the virus simply disappeared. There is information in the scientific literature that the immune response is variable and very individual. The body can make a large or small amount of antibodies and their “lifespan” varies. The available research shows that most often we are dealing with a minimum 90-day, and in many cases even 120-day and longer “protection period”.
The findings of scientists from Great Britain and Denmark are even more optimistic. In the first of these countries, between June 18 and November 24, 2020, nearly 21 thousand people were observed. health professionals. Both COVID-19 cases and the presence of antibodies were checked. At the time of the study, 6 people were found to be infected, of whom only 614 tested positive for the second coronavirus within five months of the first infection.
These analyzes show that protection against reinfection after suffering from the disease is at the level of over 80%. At the same time, however, as emphasized by British health service experts, the amount of the virus found in those who tested positive again was so great that it would certainly be enough to infect others with it.
The Danes went even further – in their opinion, immunity after contracting COVID-19 lasts at least six months. Such findings were obtained after analyzing samples from as many as 4 million people. This was made possible by the wide ranging action on which Denmark’s original strategy to fight the coronavirus is based. In this country, PCR tests are available to everyone, and free of charge, regardless of whether they experience any symptoms of the disease or not. Last year, 2/3 of the Danish population was surveyed. The samples obtained during the first and second wave of cases were compared for differences in age, sex and time since infection, and then used to estimate protection against re-infection.
It found that of the 11 people who contracted COVID-068 for the first time between March and May 19, only 2020 patients contracted the coronavirus during the second wave of the pandemic (September-December last year). Importantly, reinfection more often affected older people than younger people – among 72 seniors (1+), 931 had a second infection. This means that their protection against repeated infection is at the level of 65%. At 17 percent protecting younger people, this is a clear signal that older people are still at risk of developing COVID-47, even though they have had the infection.
The discussion on the persistence of antibodies in the bodies of people who have had COVID-19 or received the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine was summarized at the end of March by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The EU agency said that repeated coronavirus infection is rare, and the so-called the protective effect appears about two weeks after the first infection and lasts at least five or seven months (this is how long the patient’s observation lasts), and remains at the level of 81-100%. (less in seniors). Importantly, however, these studies did not take into account new mutations in the virus.
COVID-19 for the second time – what is the course?
We already know that resistance to the coronavirus may weaken over time and re-infection is not out of the question. The question that arises at this stage is: what will be the course of a possible reinfection? The results of the research also in this case are ambiguous.
A 33-year-old Hong Kong man passed the second COVID-19 asymptomatically, but there were documented cases of patients who had no symptoms of the disease the first time, subsequent infection with symptoms, and even hospitalization.
It was like that in a young man from Washoe, Nevada, USA, who fell ill for the second time very quickly, six weeks after the first infection. Positive tests were separated by a two-fold negative result, therefore there could not be a single disease that lasted a long time. In April, the patient complained of a sore throat, cough, headache, nausea and diarrhea. The symptoms subsided after 11 days and the man felt fine for the next month. He then came to the clinic with fever, headache and dizziness, and again coughing, nausea and diarrhea. Chest X-ray was performed and no hospitalization was necessary. After five days, the primary care physician diagnosed the patient with hypoxia with dyspnea and urgently sent him to the emergency department.
- Hypoxia can develop with COVID-19. That’s how you’ll recognize her
It seems, however, that most often the reinfection is mild, mildly symptomatic. This is borne out by the case of a UK doctor, reported in the Clinical Medicine Journal earlier this year. The 25-year-old physician, who showed no immunodeficiency disorders, first discovered the classic symptoms of COVID-19 in April 2020. The man had a fever for three days, he suffered from a headache, then he was tired for three weeks. The PCR test did not confirm the infection with the coronavirus at that time, but a test for the presence of antibodies performed in May showed their high level. COVID-19 was also confirmed in him in October of the same year when he was in contact with a positive patient. The symptoms were similar: high temperature, headache, fatigue, and rhinitis. This time, however, everything passed after four days.
Scientists are still puzzled over the question of why the COVID-19 course differs even in the same person infected twice. There are suspicions that the culprit is different strains of the coronavirus, but also the “dose” of the pathogen that reaches the patient’s body. If the really mild course of the disease leads to the production of fewer antibodies, then the immune system’s reaction to the first infection determines the course of the next infection, often worsening it..
What’s worse The latest reports speak of a growing number of patients being tested positive for coronavirus for the third time. They are extremely susceptible to infection, doctors emphasize, adding that often after having an infection, the test does not show the presence of antibodies in them, which would explain such a quick re-infection. Many of them take a long time to see a doctor and have a smear, because the symptoms of the disease are usually different than the first or even the second time. In addition, hardly anyone believes that he may be unlucky enough to contract the SARS CoV-2 virus three times within a few months.
The multitude of questions regarding COVID-19 reinfection prompts for even more intensive research on the nature of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The healers should lead to one conclusion: COVID-19 disease does not provide lasting protection against the coronavirus, so taking precautions when dealing with others while the pandemic continues must still be given priority.
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