Read on Twitter
In this immunology explainer, I noted that some anecdotal accounts of COVID-19 reinfections exist, but to confirm them, you'd need to sequence the genes of the virus from both infections and show they were subtly different.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/08/covid-19-immunity-is-the-pandemics-central-mystery/614956/
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/08/covid-19-immunity-is-the-pandemics-central-mystery/614956/
A HK team has apparently done that. If true, this would be the first *confirmed* case of reinfection. (Note: there's a press release, and someone has posted screengrabs of parts of the paper, but the whole thing isn't online 
)
BUT... https://twitter.com/virusesimmunity/status/1297890418168860674?s=21
) BUT... https://twitter.com/virusesimmunity/status/1297890418168860674?s=21
As I wrote, it's not surprising/worrying if reinfections *can happen*. More important Qs are:
- How common are they? (Not addressed in this study)
- Is the 2nd time more/less severe than the 1st? (2nd infection was asymptomatic here, but that's 1 case.) https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/08/covid-19-immunity-is-the-pandemics-central-mystery/614956/
- How common are they? (Not addressed in this study)
- Is the 2nd time more/less severe than the 1st? (2nd infection was asymptomatic here, but that's 1 case.) https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/08/covid-19-immunity-is-the-pandemics-central-mystery/614956/
Here's a good thread by @angie_rasmussen https://twitter.com/angie_rasmussen/status/1297894265410875394
I share her annoyance that this was PR'd w/o the full paper being readily available.
I share her annoyance that this was PR'd w/o the full paper being readily available.
And I maintain that it's more valuable to learn how to think about COVID immunology in general than to pick apart any one study. This should help: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/08/covid-19-immunity-is-the-pandemics-central-mystery/614956/
