A 25-Year-Old Nevada Man Got COVID-19 Twice. Here ’s What We Know—and Don’t Know—About Reinfection

It’s possible not only to get COVID-19 twice, but also to be sicker the second time, according to a new case report published in Lancet Infectious Diseases. But some experts caution there’s still a lot to learn about COVID-19 reinfection, and that the case cited in the paper is not likely representative of the majority of experiences with the novel coronavirus. “We’re still learning about the biology of the virus and our own biology with regards to dealing with the virus,” says study co-author Mark Pandori, director of the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory. “While we don’t know how generalizable the finding is, a person can get this virus again and they can become as sick or even more sick the second time around.” The paper details the case of a 25-year-old man living in Nevada. He initially tested positive for COVID-19 in April. His symptoms—including cough, sore throat, headache, nausea and diarrhea—cleared by the end of April, and he subsequently tested negative for COVID-19. Then, in late May, he began to experience many of the same symptoms again. In early June, he was admitted to a hospital, where he again tested positive for COVID-19. This time, his case was serious enough that doctors had to give him oxygen for breathing support. Genetic sequencing turned up significant differences between the virus samples taken in April and June. This almost certainly means he was infected twice, as opposed to being si...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news