Can you become infected with COVID-19 a second time?

In Japan, a case has been described where a woman tested positive for COVID-19 at the end of January and tested negative again a week later, after which she was declared cured. At the end of February she developed complaints again and tested positive again. This is an exceptional case and can be explained in several ways. However, the chance that it is a real second infection is small.

This could happen if the virus were to mutate quickly, meaning that the antibodies produced during the initial infection would not work against the mutated new COVID-19 virus. On the other hand, the woman may have produced very few antibodies, meaning she was not protected against a new infection. But it could also be that the woman was not infected a second time, but that the first infection flared up again. The number of viruses in the negative measurement would then have become undetectably low, after which a flare-up would have occurred.

So many hypotheses, but certainly no reason to assume or fear a systematic second infection if you have already had the disease.

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/reinfection.html

Author: Prof. Dr. Dirk Devroey - Latest update: 2022-12-01 - Copyright: Clinifacts 2024