All About COVID-19 Reinfections
COVID-19 has become a crucial health concern for people residing all over the world, after its emergence in the year 2019. It caused millions of casualties worldwide and created a scary situation. Since its emergence, there’s one question that comes to mind for everyone in terms of whether COVID-19 reinfection is possible – If yes, then how risky are they?
Many studies proved the fact that COVID-19 reinfection is possible. But, they occur rarely. The risk of reflection occurs only in those people who have had asymptomatic or mild infections in the past. Besides, some researchers have also proved that immunity to the virus tends to wane over time, especially in persons having a mild infection.
Meanwhile, the severity of COVID-19 reinfections tends to vary widely. Patients sometimes need to go for hospitalization. But, it’s also the fact that reinfections are generally milder compared to early infection. In addition, those persons who got a vaccine against COVID-19 can have a lower risk of infection than those who have not been vaccinated.
How Common Are COVID-19 Reinfections?
As mentioned above, COVID-19 infection is not common. No countries even witnessed this type of case. The first case of COVID-19 reinfection arose in Hong Kong in 2020 August. Since then, there have been reports of such types of reinfection in several other countries, including India, the United States, and Brazil.
If we believe the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it’s been revealed that 5,800 cases of COVID-19 reinfection were reported in the US in 2021. However, it also causes reinfections to sometimes also go undetected.
It’s not easy to determine the prevalence of COVID-19 reinfection due to the undefined standardized definition of reinfections. In addition, many people often test for the virus once recovered from COVID-19 and still be shedding dead virus particles that can result in a positive test outcome without actually being reinfected.
How Risky are COVID-19 Reinfections?
As far as the severity of COVID-19 reinfections is concerned, these tend to vary from individual to individual. Several people experience mild symptoms, whereas others may also experience some illness or even they can die. Older people often face a risk of severity and have certain underlying medical conditions or are immunocompromised.
Many studies suggest that COVID-19 reinfection becomes less severe than the initial infection. In Qatar, the risk of hospitalization was less in those people with COVID reinfections than in those with the first infection. However, as per a study in Denmark, people who suffered reinfection were likely to witness severe symptoms compared to those with their initial infection.
When it comes to the risk of reinfection, it also depends on the overall duration of immunity. As per a study conducted in the United Kingdom, the risk of infection tends to increase by at least 3.3% monthly after the initial infection. According to another study in the United States, the risk of infection can be increased by 5% monthly.
Apart from this, the emergence of new COVID variants also becomes the biggest threat to reinfection. Many variants, including the Delta variant, are more contagious and tend to be more likely to cause reinfection. A study conducted in the UK reveals that the risk of COVID-19 is much higher with Delta than with the Alpha variant.
Factors Responsible for COVID-19 Reinfection
Now, let’s discuss some of the factors that are directly responsible for COVID-19 reinfection.
Virus Mutation
Since the virus continues to mutate, it makes new variants more resistant to immunity gained from previous vaccination or infection that increase the risk of reinfection.
Immune Response
People with weak immune systems are prone to experience reinfection. It may also include people who have underlying health conditions, older adults, and even people who receive some treatments or medications that suppress the immune system.
Exposure to Different Variants
Exposure to different variants of the virus also tends to increase the risk of COVID-19 reinfection.
Time Between Infections
The longer time between infections, the higher risk of infection since immunity tends to go with time.
Impact of COVID-19 Reinfection Over Public Health
COVID-19 reinfections have made a significant impact on the health of people. If immunity is not fully protected against the new variants, it may be tough to control the spread of the virus through natural immunity and vaccination.
For the prevention of reinfection, many public health officials often recommend that people practice better hygiene, wear masks in public, and get vaccinated against COVID-19. Vaccines work to prevent severe illness and hospitalizations and the spread of new variants.
Conclusion
After going through the above information, it’s clear that COVID-19 reinfection is not common, and the risk of severity and hospitalization is less. Meanwhile, the new variants of COVID viruses reflect the importance of continued vigilance and adherence to some public health measures, including masking, vaccination, social distancing, etc. More research is required to understand the factors, which are responsible for reinfection and the better way to prevent and manage it in the population. RMA MyClinq offers the best treatment for COVID-19.
