First Case Of Coronavirus Reinfection – Burning Issues

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A 33-year-old man who was first infected by SARS-CoV-2 in late March and then,
Four and a half months later, seemingly contracted the virus again while traveling in Europe.
He was detected via airport screening on his return to Hong Kong from Spain this month.

Why this is significant?

There have been scattered reports of cases of Covid-19 reinfection.
Those reports, though, have been based on anecdotal evidence and largely attributed to flaws in testing.
But in this case, researchers at the University of Hong Kong sequenced the virus from the patient’s two infections and found that they did not match, indicating the second infection was not tied to the first.
“This is the world’s first documentation of a patient who recovered from Covid-19 but got another episode of Covid-19 afterwards,” The researchers said in a statement.

Experts cautioned against jumping to conclusions based on one single case.
This patient’s case could be an outlier among the tens of millions of cases around the world.
But acknowledged the discovery was a concern.
But the question of how long someone is protected from Covid-19 after being infected and recovering looms large.
The ongoing studies tracking patients who had recovered from Covid-19 would help reach more definitive conclusions.
Studies are increasingly finding that most people who recover from the illness mount a robust immune response involving both-
Antibodies (molecules that can block the virus from infecting cells again) and T cells (which can help clear the virus).
This has suggested that people would be protected from another case for some amount of time.

Since the immunity can be short lasting after natural infection,
Vaccination should also be considered for those with one episode of infection.
Since Covid-19 seems to be more resilient disease,

After an initial vaccination, booster shots may have to be provided.
Without these reminders via boosters, there can be resurgent outbreaks of the disease.
Patients with previous Covid-19 infection should also comply with epidemiological control measures,
Such as universal masking and social distancing.
An important point about this one case is that the second infection is asymptomatic.
It was caught by screening tests on returning passengers at HK airport, and the individual never developed any symptoms from their second infection.