Hong Kong man was reinfected by the coronavirus, researchers say
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A man in Hong Kong has become the first confirmed patient to be infected with the coronavirus a second time, according to researchers at the University of Hong Kong.
The finding suggests that some patients who recover from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, may have only short-lived immunity from reinfection. The case will likely also be significant for scientists who have been working on treatments using antibodies from recovered coronavirus patients, and those who have been scrambling to develop a safe and effective vaccine, though it's too soon to draw any firm conclusions.
But the research is not necessarily cause for panic. Reinfection is common with other coronaviruses. Akiko Iwasaki, a professor of immunobiology at Yale University, tweeted shortly after the study was released that the study did not show anything unexpected.
"This is no cause for alarm - this is a textbook example of how immunity should work," she wrote.
1) Second infection was asymptomatic. While immunity was not enough to block reinfection, it protected the person from disease. (2/n) pic.twitter.com/C65F8ff5UN
— Prof. Akiko Iwasaki (@VirusesImmunity) August 24, 2020
The 33-year-old man in Hong Kong developed mild symptoms in late March when he was first diagnosed with COVID-19, the researchers at the University of Hong Kong wrote in a study that has been accepted for publication by the medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. The patient was hospitalized March 29, but his symptoms subsided and he was discharged April 14, according to the study.
The second infection occurred more than four months later, reportedly after the man returned to Hong Kong from Spain, via the United Kingdom. The patient tested positive on Aug. 15 and was hospitalized but remains asymptomatic, according to the study.
The researchers compared the virus' sequenced genomes after both infections and found that the second infection appears to be a slightly different virus strain from the initial one. The scientists said this confirms that the case is a true reinfection, rather than a positive result due to a lingering first infection.
Microbiologist Brendan Wren, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the U.K., called the reinfection a "rare example" and said it's not unusual to find different virus strains as the pandemic evolves.
Can people be reinfected with coronavirus?
"We do expect, as with all viruses, that they do mutate over time," he said, but added that it's too soon to know what those mutations mean, such as whether the changes mean the coronavirus is becoming more or less virulent.
Still, Wren stressed that with more than 23 million confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, the newly identified reinfection should not derail global vaccine development efforts.
Early research on coronavirus antibodies had found that their levels waned after a few months, which could suggest that any potential immunity to the virus may not last long. But it's not yet well understood whether antibodies do, in fact, provide immunity to the virus and more research is needed.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and is the top infectious disease expert in the United States, has previously said that immunity to other known coronaviruses, including those that cause the common cold, typically lasts only three to six months.
"It may be completely different with this coronavirus," he said in an interview with the medical journal JAMA. "It may be that people induce a response that's quite durable. But if it acts like common coronaviruses, it likely is not going to be a very long duration of immunity.
Dr. Stanley Perlman, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Iowa, said it's encouraging that the patient was asymptomatic after the second infection, which could suggest that the man's immune system was at least able to protect him from becoming ill a second time.
"We could look at this and say that the person had enough immunity that he didn't have a severe infection the second time, that it was so mild he didn't have any symptoms at all," Perlman said.
What's not yet known, however, is how contagious a reinfected patient could be, he added. This factor, particularly with regards to asymptomatic spread, could have important consequences for communities still dealing with high rates of transmission.
Perlman said the new findings are not necessarily bad news, and it will take more than one case to truly understand what reinfections could mean for the evolution of the pandemic.
"We don't know what the future will hold," he said, "but this is really a glass half full situation in my mind."
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Proof there is still so much we don't know about this virus. Could he have been infected the second time with a mutation?
Now this is an if as there is no data to date..... If immunity only lasts for 4-6 months, there is no way we are going to reach herd immunity to beat this virus.
It may simply be that this virus is here to cull the herd. Those that survive from it after having milder symptoms will continue to contract it in the future much like a seasonal cold or flu. We'll never be rid of it.
That's what I keep saying. But we have some highly educated virologists here (insert heavy sarcasm here) who keep saying that we're getting herd immunity from people getting infected or some such nonsense. Somebody posted a highly dubious seed yesterday saying that the Swedes have achieved herd immunity (yeah...right)
Nearly 8 billion people on the planet and growing exponentially? Yep, Planet Earth is turning on us
There is increasing evidence as we see from the data coming out of Sweden.
You posted something similar to this last week Dean, and I pulled in a link that the Swedes are really confused by the data they are seeing as only 3% of their population has been infected.
Not so fast there Tex..... You might want to hold off on taking that victory lap with Sweden so quickly....!
In mid-June, Andersson said it was possible that Sweden had reached the bottom of the downturnn, as the government had revised their forecast to a -6% GDP downturn in GDP and an unemployment level of 9.3% (down from -7% and 11% respectively in their previous forecast) although they expected unemployment to further increase in 2021 to 10.3%. However, she cautioned that there was still a big uncertainty regarding the numbers. Similarly, the National Institute of Economic Research also revised their forecast downwards, to a -5.5% fall in GDP and for unemployment to increase to 8.5% during 2020, with a further increase up to 10% in 2021
As far as cases & deaths:
Noting the recent drop in the daily tally of COVID-19 cases, Tegnell observed on August 9, "Exactly why this happened at that time and why it was so quick and sudden, is difficult for us to understand." Tegnell acknowledges that the results of antibody blood tests do not find that enough Swedes have been infected and recovered to confer herd immunity as would be conventionally expected by epidemiologists.
How has Sweden fared in comparison with its Nordic neighbors that chose more comprehensive interventions? As of August 11, COVID-19 cases in Denmark, Norway, and Finland amounted so far to 14,959, 9,712, and 7,623, respectively; deaths per million are at 107, 47, and 60, respectively. In Sweden, cases stood at 83,126 and deaths per million at 571. In the U.S., meanwhile, cases totaled 5,265,034 with deaths per million were at 503.
And I still see you are promoting socialist countries that you hate on even days it would seem.....
My friend, "never" is a big word. I would take the ability to mitigate the severity for now. Death is so 'final.'
This just came out of Europe.....
"This case illustrates that reinfection can occur just after a few months of recovery from the first infection," the researchers said in a press release. "Our findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 may persist in the global human population as is the case for other common-cold associated human coronaviruses, even if patients have acquired immunity via natural infection."
"Viruses mutate and that means that a potential vaccine is not going to be a vaccine that will last forever, for 10 years, probably not even five years. Just as for flu, this will have to be redesigned quite regularly," he said.
We're in for "anything" besides the scourge of the "death angel" at this point. Nobody outside of my immediate smile has seen my gorgeous smile for months now! We miss faces!
Can you imagine how this is effecting the hearing impaired not being able to see lips in an effort to communicate?
I agree with you that there is so much communicated by reading persons faces.
Early on we made some home made masks to deal with Covid. One of mine was bright yellow, so I drew a smiley face on it...... I got a ton of complements on it.
Good idea!
Has there been a cure for any virus/es? The common cold still persists.
We need to keep up with this fellow in Hong Kong. He is our unwilling 'experiment' in all things novel coronavirus reinfected! This should be interesting to document. I pray he fares so well. It would bring 'glad tidings to us all!