Reply to: Doom - Man From HK infected twice

[jainnode]

FOW

[Whorty]

Don't baffle them with sensible posts.
they'll loop.

I agree ... but ... have one of these anyway ..... FOG

[rogerfederer]

Different strains, so maybe the second one was the one wielding the barbed wire baseball bat.
Also the after effects of the virus affect some worse than others where it takes some months to recover, so reinfection over and over again may be a slow death as the body fails to recover 100% between infections.

<snip>

I agree with this. Some regular senior management travelers have been infected with the severe/original strain and a few have ended up in hospital. If I compare this to the local friends, most who have tested positive have had felt bad for a week or two but had no lung involvement. The lung involvement pneumonia strain seems to have some aspect of it cause much more damage to a higher percentage of those people those who are fit and otherwise healthy.

[jainnode]

On the subject of different strains: the chap from HK was infected with two different strains. His earlier infection was with the strain common around HK/China months ago; his more recent, asymptomatic infection was the strain that's been circulating in Europe (and the US, I believe), acquired when he travelled out of HK and detected on his return. This has been confirmed by RNA analysis of samples taken from him at the two different times.

In other words: in this known case of a person being infected with two different strains, the ability of his immune system to protect against the virus conferred by infection with the first strain was effective against the second strain. It's only N=1, but is still better data than anecdotal accounts of what have been assumed to be cases of reinfection.

Don't baffle them with sensible posts.
they'll loop.

[NickFitz]

On the subject of different strains: the chap from HK was infected with two different strains. His earlier infection was with the strain common around HK/China months ago; his more recent, asymptomatic infection was the strain that's been circulating in Europe (and the US, I believe), acquired when he travelled out of HK and detected on his return. This has been confirmed by RNA analysis of samples taken from him at the two different times.

In other words: in this known case of a person being infected with two different strains, the ability of his immune system to protect against the virus conferred by infection with the first strain was effective against the second strain. It's only N=1, but is still better data than anecdotal accounts of what have been assumed to be cases of reinfection.

[SueEllen]

Not been following the news closely, too much doom , have NZ found out the cause of the recent outbreak? Poor quarantine procedure/flouting rules, or the virus shipped in on packaging or food/animals or some other way?

Explainer: Source of New Zealand coronavirus outbreak still a mystery - Reuters


They are not sure.

[Hobosapien]

Either way herd immunity is a no-go.

Makes one wonder how NZ and other places trying to keep it away deal with the news. Maybe they're hoping if enough countries keep it low level they can continue doing the 'all incomers must quarantine' routine, which will get easier as testing turnaround improves and more info is known on asymptomatic cases and other characteristics of the virus.

Not been following the news closely, too much doom , have NZ found out the cause of the recent outbreak? Poor quarantine procedure/flouting rules, or the virus shipped in on packaging or food/animals or some other way?

[SueEllen]

Seems like she got it worse second time around:

Some of the researchers think that is more like common cold inducing coronaviruses, so how ill you are depends on how your body reacts to the individual strain.

Others think that if you have a mild form of Covid-19 then your antibody levels aren't high enough to fight of a subsequent reinfection with a different strain.

Either way herd immunity is a no-go.

[Hobosapien]

Seems like she got it worse second time around:

Different strains, so maybe the second one was the one wielding the barbed wire baseball bat.
Also the after effects of the virus affect some worse than others where it takes some months to recover, so reinfection over and over again may be a slow death as the body fails to recover 100% between infections.

Be sure that whatever happens some will be looking to make billions from a 'working' vaccine however ineffective it may be. If the most at risk needed quarterly innoculations for different strains that would be better for 'big pharma' than a cure, as it always is. Drug dealers don't intentionally kill off their trade. They'd love it if everyone became a pill popper. [tin foil hat now removed]

[darmstadt]

And Argentina

Seems like she got it worse second time around:

In Argentina, Alejandra Müller, a hospital director in the town of Helvecia in the central province of Santa Fe, was first diagnosed with Covid-19 on 24 March, after acquiring the virus from a child who had fallen ill. Müller recovered from the virus and, after testing negative, was able to return to her job.

“That first time I was back at work after two weeks, having had only some chest pain, some throat congestion, a bit of fever and pharyngitis,” Müller told the daily La Nación.

The doctor submitted to two tests in April, both of which came back negative, before receiving the all clear. “I thought I had acquired immunity,” Müller said.

But four months later Müller fell ill with the virus again, much harder this time. “The second time the infection was completely different,” said Müller. The doctor developed pneumonia at the end of July and had to go into hospital for five days. “I had all the symptoms, except losing my sense of taste, though I did lose my sense of smell.”

[NickFitz]

Says he had no symptoms the second time... doesn't that mean that his antibodies from first infection likely fought off the second one? Isn't that what we are hoping for? I am a little confused.

That's exactly what happened: his immune system, having been "trained" by the first infection, immediately kicked in and wiped out the second infection. And yes, that's what's supposed to happen.

Although journalists still seem to struggle with the notion of learning some science rather than posting clickbait, the fact is that developing immunity doesn't mean that it becomes impossible for a virus or bacterium to infect you, just that it gets dealt with before it can do any harm once it's in there.

[NotAllThere]

I'm inclinded to agree, but the snag with catching an infectious virus more than once is that it gives more opportunity to infect others who haven't had it at all yet.

You'd expect a few cases of reinfections with over 20 million known infections worldwide. Something to watch, but not to panic over.

[OwlHoot]

I wouldn't panic just yet.

Some people get chickenpox twice, most people don't, ..

I'm inclined to agree, but the snag with catching an infectious virus more than once is that it gives more opportunity to infect others who haven't had it at all yet.

[Andy2]

He got a good deal. Buy one get one free.

[jayn200]

Says he had no symptoms the second time... doesn't that mean that his antibodies from first infection likely fought off the second one? Isn't that what we are hoping for? I am a little confused.

Also crazy that he was hospitalised the first time with mild symptoms and the second time with no symptoms.