Re infection

[Trackandtrace]

If someone has had the virus and recovered then is re infected later in year (after antibodies have worn off). What are the likely risks?. Ie the same risk of complications, lower risk or higher risk.

No-one yet knows if people are generally susceptible to re-infection, or the long term behaviour of antibodies at all (the test appears to require large numbers of antibodies to detect which means people can test negative to antibodies simply because they have very few left, the body doesn't keep making loads when there's no point.)

So nobody knows.

So inrelation to chicken pox for example would our bodies show antibodies years later or eould these not show on test even through we are then immune from it

No, there's no guarantee that you'll test positive for antibodies to chicken pox, either from the vaccine or past exposure.
see:
www.cdc.gov/chickenpox/lab-testing/lab-tests.html

Some commercially available VZV IgG assays are not reliable, even for the detection of people with a history of natural disease. There are currently no commercially available VZV IgG methods sensitive and specific enough to reliably detect seroconversion to vaccine

At the moment the antibody tests for covid are all pretty insensitive - being a new virus and all - so they're quite likely to fail to find antibodies when there's been no recent exposure.

People during trials didn't have antibodies but their T cells showed that they had immunity. I think that's what they call the killer t cells? Chicken pox is a good example because not everyone becomes immune. As well as shingles, when the body is medically stressed, you can get it again. One Virologists/Infectious disease specialist said that immunity will vary from person to person, just like some people never get colds or flu.

We are starting to see re-infections, so we should have more knowledge soon. They've said that unless people are scanned we won't know what scarring is left in the body by Covid, so can't judge what getting it again will do.

I've taken an interest because both me and my DD has had it.

@Ponoka7
We are starting to see re-infections
Interesting; have any reinfections been confirmed, or could it be just remains of the virus showing up in tests?

Yes I've seen nothing definite about reinfections. I've just seen them originally thought to have been but was just old bits of virus lingering.

Any links?

The concern with reinfections is further damage to already damaged or repairing organs. So that could increase the risks because if your body isn’t functioning fully after the first bout, it can’t defend itself as strongly.

Right now, it’s all largely unknown with lots of education guesses giving us worrying predictions. My advice is to ignore Boris’s comment that things will be close to normal by Christmas and instead do everything possible to keep yourself and others safe.

@SunbathingDragon
My advice is to ignore Boris’s comment that things will be close to normal by Christmas and instead do everything possible to keep yourself and others safe.
Good advice. I’m assuming reinfection is possible unless proven otherwise. Recent studies that show antibodies declining rapidly after mere weeks point that way. And yes, I do know T Cells could play a part but I don’t think we know that for sure. This struck me from a Guardian article.