You can contract Covid-19 twice – university researchers

By Jarryd Neves.With scientists and doctors working around the clock to find a vaccine for Covid-19, others are relying on herd immunity and enough individuals being infected to curb the virus, in order for it to slowly wane away..A Hong Kong man – who has previously had Covid-19 and made a recovery – has now been re-infected, in what is the first documented case of a human being re-infected. Cleared of the virus in April, the 33-year old tested positive on August 15th, following a trip to Europe. Stories of reinfection have also emerged from the Netherlands and Belgium..___STEADY_PAYWALL___.Bloomberg reported that Hong Kong based surgeon, physician and microbiologist Kwok-Yung Yuen and his colleagues said "our findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 may persist in humans" in a recent publication found in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal..Read also: Scientists investigate why some test positive for Covid-19 twice – The Wall Street Journal .Yuen and his colleagues also found that "SARS-CoV-2 is reminiscent of the coronaviruses that cause the common cold". They go on to say that Covid-19 may go on, continuing to circulate amongst people "even if patients have acquired immunity via natural infection or via vaccination.".While this may be the world's first reported case of a Covid-19 re-infection, scientists are still puzzled by patients who continue to test positive over a prolonged period of time. "Scientists haven't fully understood whether these cases reflect lingering traces of the virus, a re-eruption of an infection, or a new infection.".Talking to Bloomberg, Corey Smith – the head of translational and human immunology at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane – has said that it may prove difficult to find re-infected Covid-19 survivors, especially if they don't show any symptoms..Speaking of the re-infected Hongkonger, Smith said to Bloomberg "Because he showed no symptoms on the second infection, it is likely that, although the virus has managed to establish infection, his memory immune response has likely prevented any symptomatic disease.".Read also: Inside Covid-19: Beware of virus's long-term effects – Drs Piot, File; Attention shifts to antibodies, immunity. Ep 74 .While that certainly is a positive in this largely negative episode, there is still a risk to others, as those who are re-infected could potentially spread the virus to those who haven't been infected with Covid-19 before..Speaking to Bloomberg, Thomas File, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and chair of infectious diseases at Summa Health, said that re-infections were unavoidable.."The question is how long after the initial infection might that occur?" said File..As per the latest figures, South Africa has identified around 611,500 positive cases and recorded just under 516,500 recoveries.

You can contract Covid-19 twice – university researchers

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