{"id":3067,"date":"2020-07-14T15:53:12","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T15:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=3067"},"modified":"2020-07-14T15:53:12","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T15:53:12","slug":"my-patient-caught-covid-19-twice-so-long-to-herd-immunity-hopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=3067","title":{"rendered":"My patient caught Covid-19 twice. So long to herd immunity hopes?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“\u201cWait. I can catch Covid twice?\u201d my 50-year-old patient asked in disbelief. It was the beginning of July, and he had just tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19<\/a>, for a second time \u2014 three months after a previous infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there\u2019s still much we don\u2019t understand about immunity<\/a> to this new illness, a small but growing number of cases like his suggest the answer is yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Covid-19 may also be much worse the second time around. During his first infection, my patient experienced a mild cough and sore throat. His second infection, in contrast, was marked by a high fever, shortness of breath, and hypoxia, resulting in multiple trips to the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent reports<\/a> and conversations with physician colleagues suggest my patient is not alone. Two patients in New Jersey, for instance, appear to have contracted Covid-19 a second time almost two months after fully recovering from their first infection. Daniel Griffin, a physician and researcher at Columbia University in New York, recently described a case of presumed reinfection on the This Week in Virology<\/em> podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is possible, but unlikely, that my patient had a single infection that lasted three months. Some Covid-19 patients (now dubbed \u201clong haulers<\/a>\u201d) do appear to suffer persistent infections and symptoms<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My patient, however, cleared his infection \u2014 he had two negative PCR tests after his first infection \u2014 and felt healthy for nearly six weeks.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“repeat infections in a short period are a feature of many viruses, including other coronaviruses<\/a>. So if some Covid-19 patients are getting reinfected after a second exposure, it would not be particularly unusual.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Herd immunity depends on the theory that our immune systems, once exposed to a pathogen, will collectively protect us as a community from reinfection and further spread.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Experts generally consider natural herd immunity a worst-case-scenario backup plan. It requires mass infection (and, in the case of Covid-19, massive loss of life because of the disease\u2019s fatality rate<\/a>) before protection takes hold.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2020\/7\/12\/21321653\/getting-covid-19-twice-reinfection-antibody-herd-immunity<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“\u201cWait. I can catch Covid twice?\u201d my 50-year-old patient asked in disbelief. It was the beginning of July, and he had just tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, for a second time \u2014 three months after a previous infection.<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s still much we don\u2019t understand about immunity to this new illness, a small but growing number of cases like his suggest the answer is yes.<\/p>\n

Covid-19 may also be much worse the second time around. During his first infection, my patient experienced a mild cough and sore throat. His second infection, in contrast, was marked by a high fever, shortness of breath, and hypoxia, resulting in multiple trips to the hospital.<\/p>\n

Recent reports and conversations with physician colleagues suggest my patient is not alone. Two patients in New Jersey, for instance, appear to have contracted Covid-19 a second time almost two months after fully recovering from their first infection. Daniel Griffin, a physician and researcher at Columbia University in New York, recently described a case of presumed reinfection on the This Week in Virology podcast.<\/p>\n

It is possible, but unlikely, that my patient had a single infection that lasted three months. Some Covid-19 patients (now dubbed \u201clong haulers\u201d) do appear to suffer persistent infections and symptoms.<\/p>\n

My patient, however, cleared his infection \u2014 he had two negative PCR tests after his first infection \u2014 and felt healthy for nearly six weeks.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“repeat infections in a short period are a feature of many viruses, including other coronaviruses. So if some Covid-19 patients are getting reinfected after a second exposure, it would not be particularly unusual.” <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Herd immunity depends on the theory that our immune systems, once exposed to a pathogen, will collectively protect us as a community from reinfection and further spread.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Experts generally consider natural herd immunity a worst-case-scenario backup plan. It requires mass infection (and, in the case of Covid-19, massive loss of life because of the disease\u2019s fatality rate) before protection takes hold.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[588,409,483,828,931],"class_list":["post-3067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-corona","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-herd-immunity","tag-twice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3068,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3067\/revisions\/3068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}