A private hospital has reported the first case of COVID reinfection in Bengaluru. As per a report in India Today, the Fortis Hospital released a statement saying that a 27-year-old woman who had recovered in July, has once more tested positive.?
It stated that the woman had recovered well after mild symptoms and then tested negative before being discharged.?
Now over a month later, she had the same symptoms again and has tested positive. That is a potentially scary situation.?
"In the first week of July, the patient was symptomatic (fever, cough and sore throat) and was tested positive. She was admitted to the hospital and recovered well. A repeat test was conducted on her, which turned out to be negative, post which she was discharged on July 24. However, nearly after a month, in the last week of August, she developed mild symptoms again and has tested positive again. Both times she did not have any severe disease. This is possibly the first reported case of Covid reinfection in Bangalore," said Dr Pratik Patil, Consultant, Infectious Diseases, Fortis Hospital, Bannerghatta Road, while speaking to India Today.?
''Usually, in case of infection, the Covid Immunoglobulin G antibody is tested positive after two to three weeks of infection. However in this patient, the antibody has tested negative, which means she did not develop immunity after infection. Another possibility is that the IgG antibodies disappeared in nearly one month, leaving her susceptible for reinfection. Reinfection cases mean that the antibodies may not be produced by every individual or if they do develop, they may not last long enough, and therefore, allowing the virus to enter the body and cause the disease again," he added.?
India currently over 41 lakh cases and more than 70,000 deaths. Worldwide the tally is above 2.7 crore while the fatalities are close to 9 lakh.