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A 25-year-old man was infected with COVID-19 twice and developed more severe symptoms the second time, according to a new case study published in the medical journal The Lancet.
The man first tested positive for coronavirus on April 18, 2020 and then again on June 5, 2020, and genetic testing for the virus showed significant differences between the “variant” associated with the infection, scientists in Nevada said.
The 25-year-old from the U.S. first exhibited virus symptoms of a sore throat, cough, headache, nausea and diarrhea in late March, but recovered in late April.
She felt better until the end of May and even tested negative for the virus twice that month.
But in late May, she went to an urgent care center with similar virus symptoms and five days later, she experienced low oxygen levels and shortness of breath.
He was treated in the accident and emergency department where a chest X-ray showed that he had developed pneumonia.
“Patient required continuous oxygen support in hospital and reported symptoms including myalgia [muscle pain], coughing and shortness of breath, “the researchers said.
This is the first individual in North America to appear to have been reinfected with the virus and is linked to a few cases globally.
People who have been reinfected with the virus had previously emerged in Belgium, Hong Kong and the Netherlands.
Only one other patient, a person from Ecuador, appears to have developed more severe symptoms the second time around, the scientists wrote in The Lancet.
It is not known how long people who have contracted COVID-19 are immune, although many experts have said that they probably are over a certain period of time.
An encouraging study in Iceland showed that antibodies that help humans fight the virus likely last at least four months and do not fade quickly.
This is encouraging for vaccine efforts that will try to trigger that immune response in humans to protect them from the virus.
