'Reinfection' for new coronavirus infection confirmed for the first time in the world



In Hong Kong, a 33-year-old man who was previously infected with a novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) on August 24, 2020, was infected with COVID-19 again 4 months after recovery. Announced that it was confirmed. With the first confirmed case of 'reinfection' of COVID-19, experts warn that 'group immunity is unlikely to eradicate pandemics', but a second infection causes symptoms in men Since there were no such cases, there are some voices who once again point out the effectiveness of vaccines and immunity.

World's first coronavirus reinfection case confirmed in University of Hong Kong study | South China Morning Post
https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3098551/hong-kongs-third-wave-losing-momentum-city

First case of coronavirus reinfection confirmed, researchers say | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-confirmed-case-reinfection.html

On August 24, the University of Hong Kong announced that a Hong Kong man who had recovered from COVID-19 four months ago was reinfected with COVID-19. According to the announcement, the man was hospitalized on March 26, 2020 with COVID-19 and then discharged on April 14, but went to Spain and then returned via London on August 15th. , It was discovered that they were infected with COVID-19 again.



Although cases suspected of being reinfection have been reported so far, Hong Kong University pointed out that this time is the first case in the world that reinfection with COVID-19 was confirmed by strict inspection Did.

Dr. Yuen Kwok-yung, a doctor who studies microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, said of the case of reinfection, 'As in this case, reinfection may be milder than the first infection. , It is unlikely that collective immunity will eradicate a pandemic, because COVID-19, like other human coronavirus -borne infections, is likely to continue circulating in the human population.” I said.

In addition, the researchers said in a report, 'There are several cases in which antibodies to COVID-19 have reached a certain level but appear to be reinfected. Therefore, the vaccine protects against COVID-19. May not be lifelong, so future vaccine studies should include ex-patients who have recovered from COVID-19.”

On the other hand, some experts have pointed out the effectiveness of vaccines and immunity again, as the males who were confirmed to have reinfection had no symptoms. Akiko Iwasaki, a professor at Yale University in the US, told Twitter, 'In the case of Hong Kong, the genomic sequence of the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is different between the first and second times. Therefore, this causes caution. It's not a thing, but rather a textbook example of how immunity works.'



In the subsequent tweet, Mr. Iwasaki 'was a secondary infection is asymptomatic. In other words, immunity is not enough to block the re-infection, was able to protect themselves from disease' and pointed out . Furthermore, while the patient did not have the antibody at the time of reinfection, the antibody was promptly produced after the reinfection. Therefore, 'Since reinfection occurs, SARS-CoV-2 was not detected in the group immunity due to natural infection. It cannot be eradicated, so vaccination is the only safe and effective way to achieve collective immunity.'



Maria Van Kerkov, technical director of COVID-19 measures at the World Health Organization (WHO), responded to a question about the reinfection case in Hong Kong at a conference on August 24, ``We are COVID-19 What we know about is that people can mount an immune response to COVID-19. It is not yet clear how strong this immune response is and how long it lasts.' Said .

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