DETROIT – Since the beginning of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic many people have wondered if it’s possible to become reinfected with COVID-19 after recovering from the virus.
A new report shows reinfection is possible. The new incident makes it clear that the individual was infected again and not just experiencing effects from the previous infection.
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Local 4′s Dr. Frank McGeorge said that might not be as concerning as it sounds.
Scientists in Hong Kong are reporting the first documented case of a COVID-19 patient who was infected a second time. The report will be published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
The 33-year-old man was first diagnosed with COVID-19 in late March. About four and a half months later he was infected again and has been asymptomatic.
Researchers know this was a different second infection because they had done genetic sequencing of the SARS-COV-2 virus from the first infection and were able to compare it to the genetic sequence from the second infection and they were different.
Two additional, preliminary, unpublished reports have also been made public. A Belgian woman infected in March and then reinfected in May with a different strain and an older person in the Netherlands who also experienced a reinfection.
All of the cases will need more careful examination, but they don’t represent anything completely unexpected.
Immunity to other coronaviruses does not typically last more than several months and this suggests some COVID-19 patients may only have short-lived immunity.
It’s important to note that just because a second infection was identified, it may also be that the first infection provided some immunity that decreased the severity of the second infection. This would be welcome news if it’s proven in future studies.
Immunity from a natural infection most likely varies from person to person and may also vary depending on the severity of the infection. There is some evidence that people with more severe infections develop a stronger immune response than people who were asymptomatic.
The possible shorter duration of immunity means we may be faced with a situation where booster vaccines might be necessary.
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