The first case of COVID-19 reinfection has been reported in Hong Kong. A 33-year-old man contracted the new coronavirus this month after returning from the coronavirus in April, according to several reports.
The man was returning to Hong Kong after a trip to Spain when researchers from the University of Hong Kong said he tested positive for the virus during a screening at the airport, according to the Japan Times.
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The reported reinfection marks “the world’s first documentation of a patient recovering from COVID-19 but eventually receiving another episode of COVID-19,” the researchers told the Japan Times.
Using genomic sequence analysis, the researchers were apparently able to detect that the patient was infected by two different strains of the coronavirus. The patient showed no symptoms of the second infection, suggesting that “subsequent infections may be milder,” according to the Japan Times.
“Before this report, many believe that recovered COVID-19 patients have immunity to reinfection, however, there is evidence that some patients have a declining antibody level after a few months,” said researchers at the University of Hong Kong. a statement to the outlet.
The new coronavirus.
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“Our results prove that his second infection is caused by a new virus he recently contracted instead of by prolonged viral contamination,” Drs. Kelvin Kai-Wang To, a clinical microbiologist at the university, told the New York Times.
The World Health Organization weighed in on the study, according to the Japanese Times, which noted WHO technical leadership Maria van Kerkhove told reporters that documenting cases like this is important.
However, they warned “not to jump to conclusions,” noting that larger case studies over time are needed to better understand a patient’s antibody response to Sars-Cov-2, the new coronavirus.
Infectious disease specialists told Fox News that there were some reported anecdotal accounts of possible reinfection, but this is the first report on a scientifically proven case.
Dr. Ravina Kullar, a specialist in infectious diseases in California, said the report applies.
“There have been previous reports of presumed reinfection, but none of these cases have been confirmed with rigorous testing,” Kullar said.
Kullar, also a member of the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA), explained that patients recovering from the new coronavirus can spend weeks looking for viral fragments, giving some tests a positive result even though the virus is no longer alive. But the case of the 33-year-old man is a different scenario, Kullar noted.
“This report sequences the virus from both rounds of infection and found differences in both sets of the virus, indicating that the patient may have been infected a second time. This may support the finding that some patients [who] being infected with COVID-19 have reduced antibody levels after only a few months, “she said.
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Dr. Aaron Glatt, an epidemiologist on Long Island, New York, made a similar statement, telling Fox News that this case is important because the re-infection of the virus was “another strain of COVID-19, making it unlikely. that it was just persistent death virus from the first disease that is still being discovered. “
Glatt, also a member of the IDSA, warned to keep the findings in perspective.
“While it clearly suggests what we suspected – that COVID-19 immunity may not be lifelong – it should be estimated that this is the first case after 20,000,000 plus cases of COVID-19 worldwide. So although it is critically important to have immunity to realize can not last forever, at least in the short term, immunity is actually pretty good, “he said.
