Open AccessCoronavirus Disease-19 and Re-infection: Unknown of the Unknown
Author(s) -
Narendra S. Goel,
Deepika Jain,
Danny B Haddad
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
saudi journal of kidney diseases and transplantation/našrat amraḍ wa zira'aẗ al-kulaẗ
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.268
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 2320-3838
pISSN - 1319-2442
DOI - 10.4103/1319-2442.318536
Subject(s) - medicine , disease , coronavirus , antibody , immunology , immunity , covid-19 , betacoronavirus , virology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , immune system , outbreak
Coronavirus disease has caused seven million infections worldwide, of which, 3.1 million individuals have recovered. Though, most individuals develop antibodies, whether these antibodies result in clinical improvement/immunity from future infection is not known. It is also not known about durability of antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). No human re-infection with SARS-CoV-2 has been confirmed to date, although a few case reports have mentioned patients who have tested positive again after recovery from the initial illness. Whether these cases represent a state of carrier or re-infection or reactivation, is not known. Nevertheless, the possibility of re-infection remains a matter of concern and yet another question about SARS-CoV-2 which is still unanswered.