Nevada Reinfection Case Highlights Mysteries of Covid: How Long Does Immunity Last?

[appalachiablue]

'US reinfection case raises question: how long does Covid immunity last?' Case highlights enduring mysteries, including how long a person’s immune system protects against the virus after an infection. Jessica Glenza, The Guardian, 9/17/20.

A man in Nevada was infected with Covid-19 in March. He recovered and then tested negative for Covid-19. His would have been an unremarkable story amid a pandemic that has infected millions of people in America – if he had not been infected again less than six weeks later.

The 25-year-old male from the American south-west became what appears to be only the second published case of Covid-19 reinfection in the scientific literature, alongside a case of reinfection in Hong Kong. The man, a long-term care home worker in Reno, quarantined at a family member’s home while he was ill. Researchers believe he was reinfected when a family member, also an essential worker, brought a slightly different coronavirus strain home in early June.

“We had an outbreak occur in a long-term care facility, and they were in a position that does work with patients,” said Heather Kerwin, the epidemiology program manager for Washoe county, Nevada, who worked directly with the case. The man had to be hospitalized on his second bout with Covid-19, but eventually recovered. He is still suffering side-effects. “They are kind of experiencing some of the lingering effects of fatigue and brain fog,” said Kerwin.

Virologists largely expected reinfection could occur. But experts said the US reinfection case highlights the enduring mysteries of the coronavirus, including how long a person’s immune system protects against the virus after an infection and the virus’s interaction with individual biology. Reinfection cases are important also for the development of vaccines and assessing their impacts as the world’s medical community races to develop them...

More, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/17/nevada-reinfection-case-highlights-mysteries-covid-19

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Before anyone panics and assumes there's no lasting immunity,

out of the many millions so far infected, there have been two or three reported reinfections. So my guess is it's not going to be all that common, and it may be worth trying to figure out why a person might get reinfected.

[kurtcagle]

2. Multiple strains with enough genetic differences

may not necessarily trigger antigens. There are several known mutational stains of Covid, but most of them do not vary in the critical area that attacks the ACE2 receptors and likely which form the basis for most immunity. That would be my guess, anyway.