A 48-Year-Old Immunocompetent Female Resident of Southern Florida with Confirmed Reinfection with P.1 (Gamma) Variant of SARS-CoV-2.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND During the global Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have identified and monitored variants of concerns (VOCs) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). P.1 (Gamma) variant was initially identified in northern Brazil but has now spread worldwide. This is a report of a 48-year-old female resident of southern Florida with confirmed reinfection with P.1 variant 9 months following the initial infection. This patient was not immunocompromised and was not vaccinated. CASE REPORT A 48-year-old woman residing in southern Florida presented with symptoms of COVID-19 and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 with oral swab polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in September 2020. Her symptoms resolved spontaneously after 5 days. Nine months later, the patient again presented with respiratory, digestive, and constitutional symptoms. The nasopharyngeal swab SARS-CoV-2 PCR was positive. At that time, she had not received any vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of viral RNA from the patient's second infection confirmed that the viral strain was P.1 variant containing the E484K spike protein substitution. CONCLUSIONS This report has identified a confirmed case of reinfection with P.1 variant of SARS-CoV-2 outside Brazil. This case supports recent epidemiological findings that indicate this VOC may have increased infectivity and virulence, and highlights the importance of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination for everyone.