Woman, 31, Catches Covid-19 Coronavirus Twice In 20 Days, Omicron After Delta

Getting Covid-19 shouldn’t be like dropping your virginity. Clearly, you possibly can catch the Covid-19 coronavirus greater than as soon as. However how about being contaminated on two separate events inside three weeks? That might make for a not-so-positive three weeks. Or really, relating to Covid-19 testing, a far-too-positive three weeks.

Nicely, that’s apparently what occurred to a 31-year-old girl in Spain, according to a press release from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID). Her story was the topic of a case report that’s being offered on the ECCMID, which is going down in Lisbon, Portugal, from April 23 to 26.

Now “topic of medical case report” is probably not one thing that you just sometimes record on a resume or a relationship profile. That’s as a result of a medical case report usually implies that an uncommon and never so good story has occurred. On this case, the story began on December 20 2021. That day, the lady, who’s a well being care employee, underwent routine Covid-19 screening with a PCR check. Right here PCR stands for polymerase chain response, which might be extra correct at diagnosing Covid-19 than an antigen check, and never pickled cabbage reserve, which you shouldn’t use to diagnose Covid-19. The PCR check got here again constructive for Covid-19, which then prompted her to enter isolation for ten days. All of the whereas, she had by no means developed any signs. Finally, entire genome sequencing of the pattern revealed that she had been contaminated with the Delta variant of the extreme acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Now, this was thought-about a “breakthrough” case as a result of she had been totally vaccinated and boosted towards Covid-19 already. The booster had come 12 days prior her testing constructive for Covid-19, slightly below the 2 weeks that it might take for the booster to attain its full impact. After all, even the total impact from the booster wouldn’t imply 100% safety. As I’ve indicated for Forbes beforehand, whereas the vaccine can present good safety towards extreme Covid-19, it’s not like a concrete full-body condom. However, being totally vaccinated and boosted ought to go away you extra protected than simply being totally vaccinated. And being totally vaccinated ought to go away you far more protected than not being vaccinated in any respect similar to how carrying underwear tends to be higher than not carrying something in any respect.

If the story had ended there, it most likely wouldn’t have made it as a medical case report. You aren’t going to see case studies about one thing quite common comparable to “Particular person Drops Cinder Block On Foot, It Hurts actually Unhealthy.” Slightly, the saga continued after she had accomplished her isolation stint and returned to work. On January 10, 2022, simply 20 days after her first constructive Covid-19 check, she started feeling unwell with a cough and fever. This couldn’t have been Covid-19 once more, proper? In any case, 20 days is slightly below two Scaramuccis, which might be a very quick time. There had been no documented instances of somebody getting contaminated a second time so quickly after the primary. And haven’t some folks of social media been claiming that when you’ve been contaminated beforehand you don’t have to fret about getting Covid-19 once more?

Alas, the phrases of Whitesnake, “right here I’m going once more,” ended up making use of right here. She received one other PCR check, and voilà she was constructive for Covid-19 as soon as once more. Was this second constructive check merely from a lingering first an infection? Just like the TV present Supernatural, did the an infection last more than it ought to have? Or was this second constructive Covid-19 check certainly an indication of a very new an infection? Nicely, entire genome sequencing discovered that this second time the perpetrator was not the Delta variant once more however as a substitute the Omicron variant. It was a complete new an infection with a unique model of the virus. So, mainly somebody who had been totally vaccinated, boosted, and had a previous Covid-19 coronavirus an infection had gotten contaminated by, drum roll please, the SARS-CoV-2 once more.

The press launch quoted one the case report’s authors, Gemma Recio, MD, from the Institut Català de Salut, Tarragona, Spain, as saying, “This case highlights the potential of the Omicron variant to evade the earlier immunity acquired both from a pure an infection with different variants or from vaccines. In different phrases, individuals who have had Covid-19 can’t assume they’re protected towards reinfection, even when they’ve been totally vaccinated.” If you concentrate on it, there’s no cause why you shouldn’t be vulnerable to get contaminated once more as quickly as you might be not contaminated with the virus. Nobody has mentioned that immune safety from a pure an infection is 100%, particularly with new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 persevering with to emerge.

Think about this case report back to be yet one more warning that neither pure immunity nor vaccination alone goes to completely defend you towards Covid-19 proper now. Believing that these by themselves might be sufficient to maintain you coated whereas the pandemic remains to be happening can be akin to strolling right into a job interview or a date carrying not more than your underwear and considering, “yeah, I’ve received this.” What you could find yourself getting is contaminated or no job or no second date. Or presumably arrested. So long as the virus continues to flow into as extensively as it’s now, it’s a good suggestion to keep up different Covid-19 precautions comparable to social distancing and face masks use. In any other case, you’d placing your self in danger for getting contaminated once more. And probably repeatedly and once more.