While, the whole world is fighting against the novel coronavirus through various measures like lockdown and social distancing, there are several questions arising in the minds of most adults. The most common of them being, whether a person can have coronavirus infection twice? The anwer to this question can be yes, therefore, we thought about compiling some information about the infection and its symptoms that might appear helpful to you.
Among several new cases of corona, Hong Kong reported the first case of reinfection with Covid-19. A 33 year old man caught the infection after about 4½ months of recovery from the virus. Recently, there have more cases of reinfection in Delhi and Mumbai, especially among healthcare workers who are more prone to the virus. Researchers have also reported a few cases of asymptomatic reinfection in India.
Talking about reinfection in simple words, it means that a person was affected by the virus, recovered from it but was infected again.
According to evidence, the cause behind reinfection could be the unsuccessful development of antibodies. In normal cases, after about 2-3 weeks of infection, the covid immunoglobulin G antibody is tested positive. But, in certain cases, the antibody is tested negative after the infection or is short lived, thereby, making the person more prone to reinfection. Thus, it means that the antibodies may not be produced by every patient which may allow the virus to enter again and cause infection. There might be symptoms like pneumonia or breathing difficulties.
According to WHO, there is no evidence as to whether a person who has caught infection once and has antibodies, is protected from another infection. The vaccine too produces less immunity than an infection, therefore, we may require booster doses to avoid infection and maintain immunity. There is still ongoing research as to how much immunity a vaccine can provide.
What should you do after recovering from first infection
Since, recovery from coronavirus does not mean that you are immuned to the disease, therefore you should try following all the measures needed for the prevention like, wearing mask, maintaining hand hygiene and social distancing. Coronavirus being a new disease, there is not much information about the kind of long term immunity it develops after recovery. It is therefore advisable to be cautious at your end.
Till now, health officials in India believe that reinfection with Covid-19 is rare and mild infections have occurred, thereby making this issue of not a serious concern. There is still a lot to be learned about the virus and research is still underway.