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They have tested positive several times: “someone should do more research”
Of: Sara milstead
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Jan Albert, a professor at the Karolinska Institutet, is shocked by Sabrina’s case and thinks it should be investigated further.
– There are only two possible explanations, he says.
The question of whether COVID-19 patients can be re-infected is a heated one in the research world. After almost a year with the virus and several million infected, science predicts some cases in which patients show symptoms again in a short time from the first illness.
It remains to be seen if Sabrina is one of them. To prove this, advanced tests are required to study the virus genome.
Two posibilities
– Based on what you say, there are only two possibilities, as long as the tests are correct, which you have to assume because so many samples have been tested, says Professor Jan Albert.
– Either it is a tail from a previous infection, in which it has not become really healthy, or it is the case that it has been reinfected. But four months is a long time to be a queue.
Photo: Janerik Henrsson / TT
Jan Albert, chief physician and professor at the Karolinska Institutet.
He notes that PCR tests are so sensitive that they can give results for many weeks after the time of illness, even after recovery.
Study from Hong Kong
– But you’re not contagious for that long. It is estimated that he becomes infected about 10 days after becoming ill, says Jan Albert.
No one has the answer to how common it is to get sick again.
– Actually, there is only one report that you have tried to deepen, and that is a study from Hong Kong, he says.
Photo: PATRIK LUNDIN
Sabrina, 30, has tested positive for COVID-19 four times, but still lacks antibodies.
Probably, says Jan Albert, it is not about many people. And those who do get the disease again are likely to get milder illnesses a second time; some may not have any symptoms.
– And then it becomes more difficult to find out.
“Very rare”
The corona virus, like other viruses, is found in several genetically different variants. To determine if a person has been infected with COVID-19 twice, the virus genome of both cases of the disease must be compared. If the genome is very similar to each other, it can be assumed that it is the same infection, that is, a tail of the disease. If, on the contrary, they differ, it may be a recurrence.
– But these are very special analyzes and it is the Swedish Public Health Agency that takes care of that, says Jan Albert.
However, that Sabrina received a negative response to the antibody tests is something that surprises Jan Albert.
– It sounds very strange. Someone should probably dig deeper, he says.
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