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There are already some reports of re-infection. It may be that immunity isn't so easy to build for this virus. Not enough is known about it yet. This is a huge

There are already some reports of re-infection. It may be that immunity isn't so easy to build for this virus. Not enough is known about it yet. This is a huge gamble.

smitty1e 7y ago
What reputable officials are on record regarding re-infection, please?
- ldjb 7y ago
  I don't think there is any evidence of reinfection. What seems to have happened in some cases is that a person's symptoms have dissipated but resurfaced a bit later. In other words, the patient thought they had recovered when they hadn't. That said, the chief scientific officer has stated that this is likely to be an annual virus: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/13/coronavirus-outbreak-likely-annual-virus-says-governments-chief/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/13/coronavirus-outb...
- gus_massa 7y ago
  I had the same discussion a few days ago and someone posted https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-risk-of-reinfection-2020-2?r=DE&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-risk-of-re... [It has a link to a video, but the caption of the video is wrong. The recommendation to the cured patients is not to increasing their physical activity but to enhance their own health safeguards.] I found two other articles about the same case https://globalnews.ca/news/6623287/coronavirus-multiple-infections/ https://globalnews.ca/news/6623287/coronavirus-multiple-infe... and https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-japan/japanese-woman-confirmed-as-coronavirus-case-for-second-time-weeks-after-initial-recovery-idUSKCN20L0BI https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-japan/japane... . t's not 100% clear, but it looks like a continuation of the first infection after a few week of no symptoms. It makes more sense than no immunity (at least at the short time), and a second independent infection.
janoc 7y ago
There are a few suspicious cases but given how human immunity system works, it is very very unlikely that it is due to reinfection (i.e. a cured patient getting infected again). A far more likely explanation is either poor testing that gave a false "all clear" while the patient was still sick. The tests are not 100%, that you don't detect the virus in the sample doesn't mean that the patient is not infected - it only means your sample didn't contain the virus. Which could happen for all sorts of reasons. That's why multiple tests are usually required - commonly two, in some cases up to eight consecutive tests had to be clean before the patient was discharged. Or the patient has not been completely treated and the virus became dormant for a while, reappearing again later. This is known to happen with other diseases as well - e.g. ebola virus could stay dormant for weeks in the eyes and cause the disease to return again.

There are already some reports of re-infection. It may be that immunity isn't so easy to build for this virus. Not enough is known about it yet. This is a huge gamble.

smitty1e 7y ago

What reputable officials are on record regarding re-infection, please?

ldjb 7y ago
I don't think there is any evidence of reinfection. What seems to have happened in some cases is that a person's symptoms have dissipated but resurfaced a bit later. In other words, the patient thought they had recovered when they hadn't. That said, the chief scientific officer has stated that this is likely to be an annual virus: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/13/coronavirus-outbreak-likely-annual-virus-says-governments-chief/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/13/coronavirus-outb...
gus_massa 7y ago
I had the same discussion a few days ago and someone posted https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-risk-of-reinfection-2020-2?r=DE&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-risk-of-re... [It has a link to a video, but the caption of the video is wrong. The recommendation to the cured patients is not to increasing their physical activity but to enhance their own health safeguards.] I found two other articles about the same case https://globalnews.ca/news/6623287/coronavirus-multiple-infections/ https://globalnews.ca/news/6623287/coronavirus-multiple-infe... and https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-japan/japanese-woman-confirmed-as-coronavirus-case-for-second-time-weeks-after-initial-recovery-idUSKCN20L0BI https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-japan/japane... . t's not 100% clear, but it looks like a continuation of the first infection after a few week of no symptoms. It makes more sense than no immunity (at least at the short time), and a second independent infection.

janoc 7y ago

There are a few suspicious cases but given how human immunity system works, it is very very unlikely that it is due to reinfection (i.e. a cured patient getting infected again). A far more likely explanation is either poor testing that gave a false "all clear" while the patient was still sick. The tests are not 100%, that you don't detect the virus in the sample doesn't mean that the patient is not infected - it only means your sample didn't contain the virus. Which could happen for all sorts of reasons. That's why multiple tests are usually required - commonly two, in some cases up to eight consecutive tests had to be clean before the patient was discharged. Or the patient has not been completely treated and the virus became dormant for a while, reappearing again later. This is known to happen with other diseases as well - e.g. ebola virus could stay dormant for weeks in the eyes and cause the disease to return again.