Anyone had Covid twice (positive test more than 3 months apart)

[Flapjak]

Just curious really, in terms of what that means for immunity. I have had it once and was quite poorly for several weeks and i wonder if statistically it would be really really unlikely to get it again . I also wonder how much of the populatio has had it now given that 50,000 are testing positvely daily plus the supposed 1/3 aysmtomstic, that would mean 1/2 million last week alone, 2 million in last month, it must have been similar back at the last peak. Any clever statiticians / scientists on here who have been looking at overall infected population. There are stats on the governmnent website but assume these are confirmed cases and sont include all those people that werent tested from feb / march to summer period

Good question. A friend who had it in October has been giving plasma and was told that the antibodies only show up for ‘three or so months’ afterwards on average.

I don’t know what no antibodies means though-hopefully the immune system has some sort of memory and would be better placed to fight off a reinfection? I’m not sure anyone actually knows the answer to this...

You would think though with the millions of confirmed cases they might actually have some idea

You would think that! Hopefully somebody wiser than us will join this thread.

Marking place! I thought there were only 20-30 cases worldwide (confirmed and more than 3 months apart). But I keep reading threads where people say they’ve had it twice (or their neighbour/sister/friend has).

Yes me. First time was end of March last year, second this Dec. I wouldnt say it's common exactly but there are more of us all the time. Certainly more than 30. If anything, I'd say we are undercounted in the UK as so few people got tests the first time round.

This reinfection tracker says there are 31 confirmed cases worldwide. Although it does say there are over 2000 more suspected cases. It’s not an established scientific source - they collate everything they can find from journals - so to verify you’d have to check the original sources. I read about it in Forbes a couple of weeks ago.

I’m sure you are right that lots of cases of reinfection have been missed Porcupine.

@Muddybootsblister

Good question. A friend who had it in October has been giving plasma and was told that the antibodies only show up for ‘three or so months’ afterwards on average.

I don’t know what no antibodies means though-hopefully the immune system has some sort of memory and would be better placed to fight off a reinfection? I’m not sure anyone actually knows the answer to this...

You are right, we don't have antibodies hanging round forever, but our immune system has 'memory cells' which when they come across the same virus cause the immune system to produce the antibodies again (this time quicker than the initial infection)

This is a really interesting question. I had a positive test on 12th December and I'm back in school tomorrow. Just worried about it all really! Obviously I will wear what PPE I can and social distance but I do wonder if I could get it again, or carry it.

Well I have to say that my second infection has been much, much milder than the first. As I know I'd lost my antibodies I like to think this was due to t cell memory rather than chance. Not keen to try a third infection to test this though.