Covid-19 Reinfection:
A team of scientists from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) examined the cases of 1,300 individuals who had tested positive for the coronavirus twice.
- It was found that 58 cases of the 1,300 individuals or 4.5% could be classified as possible reinfections.
Worldwide Cases of Reinfection:
- The first confirmed case was reported from Hong Kong.
- A couple of cases from the United States and Belgium also emerged.
- However, there have been several cases of people testing positive for the virus multiple times, even in India, but not all such cases are considered reinfections.
- Such cases are the result of what is called “persistent viral shedding”.
Persistent Viral Shedding:
- When an individual gets infected by a respiratory virus like SARS-CoV-2, the virus particles bind to the various types of viral receptors.
- Thus, Recovered patients can sometimes continue to carry low levels of the virus within their system for up to three months.
- These levels are no longer enough to make the person sick or transmit the disease to others, but it can get detected in diagnostic tests.
- The disease developed from such persistent virus is what is called Persistent viral shedding.
