How strong is the evidence that it is possible to get SARS-CoV-2 twice? A systematic review.
Rev Med Virol
; 31(5): 1-12, 2021 09.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1574832
ABSTRACT
With a large number of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients being discharged from hospital with negative test results for SARS-CoV-2, it has been reported that several recovered cases tested positive after discharge (re-positive, RP). This finding has raised several important questions for this novel coronavirus and Covid-19 disease. In this review, we have discussed several important questions, including (1) Can the virus re-infect recovered individuals? (2) What are the possible causes of the re-positive reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test in recovered patients? (3) What are the implications of these re-positive cases concerning the spread of the virus? Understanding how recovery from Covid-19 confers immunity to decrease the risk of re-infection is needed to inform current efforts to safely scale back population-based interventions, such as physical distancing. We have also described what is currently known about the immune response to Covid-19, highlighted key gaps in knowledge, and identified opportunities for future research. Overall, the quality of the evidence is poor and we describe the features that should be described for future cases.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Reinfection
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Prognostic study
/
Reviews
/
Systematic review/Meta Analysis
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Language:
English
Journal:
Rev Med Virol
Journal subject:
Virology
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Rmv.2203
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