A dangerous myth is circulating, one that may potentially undo all the progress that has been made in the fight against Covid-19.
For a while, many believed that once stricken with coronavirus, the body fights it off, creating antibodies in the process that makes one immune to reinfection. Theoretically, once someone is immune, they are no longer at risk for the virus, nor will they shed the virus thereby causing others to become infected. This is where the concept of a vaccine comes from; when a child receives a measles vaccine, the body is coaxed into creating antibodies against measles, thereby making the child immune to ever getting the measles.
But new research is showing that this may not necessarily be true in all cases. While there are many people who are indeed getting equipped with antibodies and whose blood plasma containing those antibodies are now being used to treat other coronavirus patients, it appears that some “recovered” Covid-19 patients are not getting antibodies to fight off a future coronavirus infection and are at risk of becoming ill again.
According to reports, doctors in South Korea have noticed that some patients who were believed to be fully recovered are testing positive again for Covid-19, raising theories that perhaps the virus can go dormant before revitalizing itself and attacking patients a second time. Because the coronavirus pandemic is completely unprecedented and Covid-19 is a brand new virus, doctors and health researchers have not settled on one theory to explain it, but the idea of the virus lying dormant for a while before reactivating is now the leading theory.
This doesn’t need to send everyone into a panic, and definitely not at this point. For the most part, recovered patients appear to indeed become immune once recovered and the number of patients becoming reinfected is extremely low. Still, the threat that a patient thought to have recovered can become reinfected remains. Because of this, it is crucial that we maintain social distancing, follow the guidelines being set by the health experts, and do all we can to ensure that no more people become ill with Covid-19.
Don’t be fooled by the positive news that we are thankfully receiving more and more of each day. The pandemic still exists. It can make a comeback. We must stay vigilant.
This happened to my relative. He first had a mild case for a week. He assumed that he recovered but then a week or 2 later, it came back much stronger. He has had fever and a cough on and off for the past 2 weeks.
Please please be careful and stay home even if you already had the virus.
Is likely the same infection not a new one ! It was still in his system this article is talking about getting reinfected at a later time after complete recovery
Dos that mean that we will never be rid of this virus? It will always come back? What is the point of all this social distancing if we are doomed to live with this virus forever? If this is true then just open up evrything up already.
sorry but experts are pretty unanimous about this that one does develop immunity after they get the coronavirus. as for the cases in south korea (note that there are only documented cases in south korea not in the rest of the world where millions have gotten sick) they are being looked into, and there are a variety of explanations for it. Please don’t spread more panic!!
sorry SS but the experts are pretty unanimous that THEY DO NOT KNOW, they have theories and possibilities but they ALL admit that they are still learning about this virus. We have, at most, a four month track record for any patient, there is no possible way to state with any degree or certainty,if you develop immunity, for how long,
to say nothing of the speculation from experts that there are multiple stains floating around simultaneously. We can clearly see that something has hit southeast Asia with less force than it has hit Italy…