Scientists have confirmed the first case of coronavirus infection in the United States: a 25-year-old Nevada man whose second round of the virus was more severe than the first.
T Eastock
Scientists have confirmed that the 25-year-old Nevada contracted coronavirus twice, the second case was more serious.
The findings were published Monday in the medical journal The Lancet.
The man, whose name remains anonymous, first tested positive in April before testing negative in May. Then in June, he tested positive for the virus again, developing symptoms of COVID-19 a second time.
According to the case study, his second infection was more severe than the first, with symptoms such as fever, cough and dizziness.
The researchers sequenced the RNA from both virus samples and found that they were two different strains, leading to a true re-infection.
Scientists have not concluded why anyone is infected twice or if some people are likely to be re-infected. The Nevada case is the fifth infectious disease in the world, and scientists say such cases are rare.
Akiko Iwasaki, a professor of immunobiology at Yale University, told NPR that many other positive tests can be done for a number of reasons, such as exposure to high levels of the virus or that the immune response feels worse rather than worse around the virus.
In general, researchers are finding that people who get COVID-19 develop a healthy immune system, but are unaware of how long it lasts.
The case study was first sent to The Lancet in August, but it was officially published and the case was first reported to the U.S. this week.
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