Genomic evidence of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection in the Republic of Korea.
J Med Virol
; 94(4): 1717-1722, 2022 04.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1718401
ABSTRACT
As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues, reinfection is likely to become increasingly common. However, confirming COVID-19 reinfection is difficult because it requires whole-genome sequencing of both infections to identify the degrees of genetic differences. Since the first reported case of reinfection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the Republic of Korea in April 2020, four additional cases were classified as suspected reinfection cases. We performed whole-genome sequencing of viral RNA extracted from swabs obtained at the initial infection and reinfection stages of these four suspected cases. The interval between initial infection and reinfection of all four suspected cases was more than 3 months. All four patients were young (10-29 years), and they displayed mild symptoms or were asymptomatic during the initial infection and reinfection episodes. The analysis of genome sequences combined with the epidemiological results revealed that only two of the four cases were confirmed as reinfection, and both were reinfected with the Epsilon variant. Due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the possibility of reinfections with SARS-CoV-2 variants is increasing, as reported in our study. Therefore, continuous monitoring of cases is necessary.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Genome, Viral
/
Reinfection
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Variants
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
J Med Virol
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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