Five Positive Takeaways From India’s First Covid Patient’s Reinfection

A medical student from Thrissur district in Kerala, who was tested positive on January 30, 2020, and had become the country’s first Covid-19 patient, has been reported to be reinfected once again after more than one and a half years.

 The good news is that she doesn’t have any symptoms such as fever, headache, body ache, etc, and is reportedly in quarantine at her home. After her first infection, she was admitted to the Thrissur Medical College Hospital and treated for three weeks. She was released from the hospital on February 20, 2020, after her RTPCR test came negative twice.

The absence of any symptom in her second infection is in conformity with many studies which suggest that re-infection is mild as compared to the first one. Likewise, here’re five positive takeaways from it:

Natural infection provides better and long-term protection: Once a person is recovered from Covid-19, he or she possess various types of antibodies against the virus. Available researches have said that these antibodies are of better quality and can protect the person for a long time.

Dr. Balram Bhargava, Director-General, Indian Council of Medical Research, said on July 6 in a Heath Ministry Press Conference that a naturally recovered person is believed to have antibodies against the virus from 7 months to 12 months. “We are studying this duration of the presence of antibody in a vaccinated person,” Dr. Bhargava had said.

The reinfection of the medical student after more than one and a half years is in conformity with the available studies about the long duration of protection.   

Re-infection is rare and mild: Public Health England, an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care in the United Kingdom in its recent study on reinfection has concluded that the overall risk remains low.

A press release on the PHE’s reinfection study says, “Current evidence suggests that most reinfections will not cause symptoms. Work is ongoing to better understand the factors that make someone more likely to catch COVID-19 again...”   

Many doctors gave their anecdotal experiences in India in which they said that the reinfection is often asymptomatic and mild. The case of the medical student is in line with the available studies as she is reported to be asymptomatic.

Dr. Sanjay Rai, Professor in Community Medicine from AIIMS, Delhi, said, “In the Public Health England study, there were only 53 confirmed re-infection with SARS-CoV-2 in England throughout the pandemic, out of nearly 40 lakh confirmed infections. This shows reinfection is so rare.”

Natural infection activates memory-cell: When the Sars_cov_2 virus infects a person, the body’s immune system not only produces various types of antibodies but it also activates memory cells known as T Cells.

Though the antibody disappears after a few months, the T-cell memorises the virus and if it enters the body again anytime in the future the memory cells help develop the antibody faster to overpower the virus.     

It is due to this reason the reinfections are either asymptomatic and mild as the body doesn’t take much time to launch an attack on the virus. The asymptomatic status of this medical student confirms that her memory cell has worked to provide protection.  

A re-infected person can rarely spread the virus: Since a re-infected person is normally asymptomatic or shows mild symptoms, such persons don’t spread the infection to others. Many studies have confirmed it.

In the case of the medical students, it has been reported that her parents and other family members are not infected.  

A naturally-recovered person doesn’t need a vaccine: Many top Indian scientists believe that natural immunity sustains for a very long time and naturally recovered people don’t need a vaccine. The Thrissur-based medical student remained protected from Covid-19 without any vaccine for more than one a half years and when she got reinfected, she has no severe infection.

“Majority of studies say that natural antibodies are better than vaccine-acquired antibodies. There are a few studies that suggest that vaccine-acquired antibody is as good as natural antibodies. But there is no study which undermines the importance of natural antibody,” Dr. Rai said.