I already had COVID-19. Can I get Delta? [WE EXPLAIN]

The Delta variant is the most aggressive type of coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic – said Dr. Grzesiowski recently. – It is faster, more agile, and more effectively than the previous variants, affects the most vulnerable – warns Dr. Ryan from WHO. Will Delta also attack healers? This question is asked by many who have COVID-19 behind them. See what scientists and doctors think about it.

1. The Delta mutation is up to five times more infectious than the base variant of the coronavirus
2. Natural immunity (after disease) in many cases protects people from COVID-19 reinfection. And when it does, they tend to be mild
3. The problem is that the current research on the immunity of convalescents concerns mainly older variants of SARS-CoV-2.
4. How can convalescents improve protection against further illness? Doctors recommend vaccinations against COVID-19
5. More information can be found on the Onet homepage.

Delta mutation “the most aggressive type of coronavirus”

The Delta variant (B.1.617.2) can be 40 to 60 percent. more contagious than the Alpha (British) mutation, research suggests. The expert of the Supreme Medical Council, Dr. Paweł Grzesiowski says directly: – The Delta variant is currently the most aggressive type of coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic, which is manifested by four or five times higher infectivity than the basic variant and more hospitalizations. Previously, one patient infected about two people, now even up to eight people, he explained in Gazeta Wyborcza.

Australian scientists warn that only “fleeting contact” is enough to become infected. – At the beginning of this pandemic, I said that 15 minutes of close contact is a problem. Now it looks like it takes five to 10 seconds to get infected, said The Guardian, Queensland Health Director Dr. Jeannette Young. In her opinion, the risk is much higher than a year ago.

Moreover, the pathogen is much easier to spread by air. One example is the situation in Sydney where a person got infected from a sick stranger by simply walking past him. “It took a few seconds for a person to become infected with COVID-19 when a stranger walked by while shopping at a mall in a Sydney suburb,” abc.net.au reports. A similar situation was going to happen in a cafe and another shopping center. “We have to recognize that the Delta variant is in fact a gold medalist when it comes to jumping from one person to another,” quotes Gladys Berejiklian, member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, US Forbes.

WHO experts point out that there is not enough evidence yet to confirm that the Delta Coronavirus variant can spread within those 10 seconds. All this information, however, is worrying, also for convalescents. Today, many people who have contracted COVID-19 are wondering how much does the coronavirus infection protect them against the Delta variant? Is this mutation dangerous for them as well?

Re-infection with COVID-19 in convalescents. What’s the risk?

Research to date shows that re-infection with COVID-19 in convalescents is rare, and if anything, the disease is usually mild. Such conclusions are made, among others, by Researchers from hospitals in Magenta and Legnano in Lombardy, Italy: SARS-CoV-2 re-infections are rare events, and natural immunity after coronavirus infection has been shown to provide protection for at least one year. The results of the analyzes of Italian researchers appeared at the end of May in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

– We know that reinfection is not common, at least in the short term with the original virus variant as well as some other variants – admits infectious disease expert at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, Dr. Amesh Adalja.

It is also worth mentioning a study conducted at the Cleveland Clinic among health care workers who were vaccinated or had previously had COVID-19. They found that the reinfection rate of convalescents is essentially the same as if they had been vaccinated.

However, there is a fundamental problem here. These studies look at the older variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, not the recently emerged variants. So it is not known for certain how the natural immunity developed against the older SARS-CoV-2 variants will protect against the new ones. Therefore, storage does not guarantee that a person will not be infected with SARS-CoV-2 again.

Who is at greater risk of COVID-19 reinfection?

Scientists point out that immune responses vary from person to person. While one person may have developed strong and long-lasting immunity, another may have a weaker and shorter response. A small study by scientists at the University of Oxford found that people who have shown a weaker immune response may be at higher risk of reinfection with new variants of the coronavirus.

However, in most cases, immunity obtained from previous COVID-19 infection appears to offer good protection against the severe course of possible reinfection. ‘The general rule is that reinfection will not be serious, precisely because of the existing immunity,’ explains Dr Amesh Adalja.

There are exceptions to this rule – there are known cases of patients who had a harder second infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, with 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. In April, the patient complained of 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 hospitalization was not necessary. After five days, the primary care physician diagnosed the patient with hypoxia with dyspnea and urgently sent him to the emergency department.

1. COVID-19 re-infections. You can get sick even for the third time. How it’s possible?

In general, however, doctors expect the vast majority of reinfections – even with the Delta mutation – to be mild.

Recuperators should be vaccinated against COVID-19. Arguments

Although SARS-CoV-2 reinfection is rather rare and mild in its course, doctors recommend that recoveries vaccinate against COVID-19. It is worth quoting the words of Dr. Andrzej Trybusz, MD. – After exposure, immunity is not very stable, it occurs to various degrees and its level sometimes declines quite quickly. Containment does not guarantee that a person will not get infected again with SARS-CoV-2, the former Chief Sanitary Inspector emphasized recently. The expert noted that Post-vaccination immunity is much more stable.

Research recently published in Science has shown what happens in a recovering body after being vaccinated against COVID-19. It turned out that people who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 (and thus acquired natural immunity) and had been vaccinated against COVID-19 (artificial immunity) had a very strong immune response. The combination of natural and artificial immunity is defined as hybrid immunity.

More on this in the article: Why should survivors be vaccinated against COVID-19? Important discovery

Some experts believe that a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is enough for convalescents. Others are in favor of taking two. There is no doubt, however, that people who have been infected with the coronavirus should also get vaccinated.

A few days ago, the results of the study appeared in the pages of Nature, which showed that the intake of one dose of the vaccine does not provide adequate protection against the Delta variant. After one dose, only 10 percent. of the tested samples, antibodies were developed that neutralized the Delta variant. However, after two doses, 95 percent. samples developed antibodies. Read more about it HERE: One dose of the vaccine does not protect against the Delta variant. New research results

Finally, it is worth quoting the statement by prof. Karolina Sieroń from the Ministry of Interior and Administration Hospital in Katowice. The doctor ran the covid ward until she became infected with the coronavirus herself, the doctors were afraid that she would not survive, luckily it turned out otherwise (see the story of Dr. Sieroń: She looked after the sick until she became infected with COVID-19. “I almost had no lungs anymore”) . – I left the hospital at the end of November 2020 and as soon as possible I got vaccinated (…) I had a low level of antibodies after my illness. But even if we have antibodies, it doesn’t protect us 100%. before you fall ill again. I believe that there is nothing to wait for – the doctor appeals, adding: – According to the guidelines, one month after getting sick, you can, and in my opinion, get vaccinated against COVID-19.

You may be interested in:

1. Does Delta Variant Really Have Different Symptoms? [WE EXPLAIN]
2. White House: The Delta variant is more dangerous to young people than any other mutation
3. COVID-19. The best and the least vaccinated communes in Poland. One thing stands out

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