First Confirmed Case of Coronavirus Reinfection Doesn’t Mean We’re All Doomed
The case is one in 23 million
Scientists in Hong Kong reported today the first confirmed case of reinfection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been concerns about long-term immunity to the novel coronavirus, and several possible cases of reinfection were reported in the media. But until now, none were confirmed scientifically.
The question has always been whether reports of a person testing positive, recovering from the virus and testing negative, and then testing positive again weeks or months later is because of faulty testing, “dead” viral RNA lingering in the body, a reemergence of the same infection, or a genuine instance of reinfection. The Hong Kong report is the first to use genetic testing to confirm the two cases in the same person were caused by slightly different strains of the virus.
According to a manuscript leaked by South China Morning Post reporter Lilian Cheng on Twitter, the patient, a 33-year-old man with no preexisting conditions, first got sick in March, presenting with a cough, sore throat, fever, and headache. He tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 on March 26 and was monitored in the hospital for two weeks (standard protocol for patients in Hong Kong regardless…
