Anyone had coronavirus twice ?

[Billi77]

That’s it. Am hearing about lots of people getting reinfected with lighter or no symptoms second time round. I just had a positive result and pretty sure had it in March/April with flu symptoms . Didn’t have a swab at the time but had a positive antibody test. Very light symptoms this time round.

Research says worldwide there is little evidence that someone has had it twice with a positive test, but a few cases have been documented. I wonder though if more people had it first time round and immunity dwindles.

Am hearing about lots of people getting reinfected with lighter or no symptoms second time round.

Were they all tested both times?

There is one definite case and a couple of maybes.

But the good news is that the definite one was only picked up on a routine airport test which suggests that the presence of the viral material in his throat, which his body's defences may have inactivated, did not make him unwell. And if the viral genetic material was inactivate, he would not have been infectious.

The virus hasn’t been around for long enough to determine very much. But it does seem evident antibodies only last for 3-6 months so we can expect lots of cases of reinfection starting to take place now. be careful people and wear your masks.

There was a man in Hong Kong. Somebody started a panic thread about it.

It backfired, if I remember correctly.

Not all were tested in spring as tests were not available at time. But everyone had corona symptoms and many had positive antibody tests.

There are a couple of definite documented cases.

To be honest it's something we will find difficult to say in this country as so few people were tested during March/April that it will be hard to prove.

However off the basis of the two documented cases and other medical papers about the immune response generally it appears, on the balance of probabilities, that:

• You can catch COVID more than once as the immune response seems to decrease over time and is also dependent on how 'badly' you had it the first time

• That if you catch it a second time, and that second time is within a few months, you will likely have a mild response or be asymptomatic as your immune system deals with it more effectively

• That it's likely that there is no long term immunity to COVID.

Like I said this is 'on the balance of probabilities' it's not yet proven but a good working hypothesis.

@wheresmymojo

There are a couple of definite documented cases.

To be honest it's something we will find difficult to say in this country as so few people were tested during March/April that it will be hard to prove.

However off the basis of the two documented cases and other medical papers about the immune response generally it appears, on the balance of probabilities, that:

• You can catch COVID more than once as the immune response seems to decrease over time and is also dependent on how 'badly' you had it the first time

• That if you catch it a second time, and that second time is within a few months, you will likely have a mild response or be asymptomatic as your immune system deals with it more effectively

• That it's likely that there is no long term immunity to COVID.

Like I said this is 'on the balance of probabilities' it's not yet proven but a good working hypothesis.

Based on my experience alone, seems a pretty good summary. Curious to see how many people report getting it twice on MN

No one knows yet, some people catch chicken poxs twice but it's rare.

There was a case in Nevada as well:
www.statnews.com/2020/08/28/covid-19-reinfection-implications/?

But so far single figure numbers after almost 25 million confirmed worldwide cases and actual case numbers probably in the hundreds of millions suggests that short term reinfection is likely to be rare.

"We are going to see reinfections. That's normal. The important thing is that the vast majority will hopefully/likely be asymptomatic or mild and reinfection will serve (as it should) to simply boost immune memory!

This is a natural and part of immune learning...

Unfortunately, the "norm" gets lost and overrun in media by rare events.

To scientists, the rare events are important because we learn from them - so we publish them. But unfortunately, academic reports get placed on front page of major media - confusing and scaring many."

Michael Mina (Epidemiologist, Immunologist & Physician at Harvard School of Public Health & Harvard Med School).
mobile.twitter.com/michaelmina_lab/status/1299445546428530688

We all have experience of getting colds.
Who hasn't had that mild sore throat feeling that a cold is starting - only to wake up next day feeling fine.
I assume this is your body fighting off a virus that it has seen before and if we were to be tested for that particular cold virus it would be positive?
It would be interesting to know whether we can pass it on to others at this point?

One of the doctors at work thinks he may have had it twice. He had it, then a couple of months later had it again. However he admits that it's possible that it didn't go away at all, just the symptoms lessened.

I had assumed but untested coronavirus in March. I felt quite ill with a long list of symptoms but could breathe, so no hospital. 8 weeks later the fatigue suddenly came back, also sore throat, chills and I had a raised temp when I went to test. All milder and fewer symptoms than March. The test was positive. Maybe it was reinfection but I'd hardly been out the week before, 2 very brief shop visits. So I wouldn't rule out reactivation either.

I would suspect reactivation but have had 2 negative tests in May and July for work

I'm sure I read an article about 2 people in somewhere like Belgium who had tested twice. As well as the other ones mentioned in Hong Kong and the USA
These would be people who had the virus, then tested negative for while, then positive again some time later. Meaning they had caught the virus twice
I think maybe they had been part of some kind of study, *tested repeatedly, and that this is why it was picked up on, but as others have said, it's probably too early to tell ATM
30% of common colds are a coronavirus and they can be caught repeatedly

*I know someone who is part of a study and they are tested every week