[NEWS IN-DEPTH] Covid-19 Reinfections: Implications for Vaccinations

코로나19 재감염, 의미와 파장은?

Those who have been concerned about reinfection point to frequent instances where people who test positive, then negative, for SARS-CoV-2, or Covid-19, subsequently test positive again.
Is that evidence of reinfection, or of viral genome persistence at low levels?
South Korea recently reported that a patient in her 20s tested positive for the coronvirus back in March, recovered and then recently tested positive again.
Contrary to the hundreds of other instances where health authorities refrained from identifying them as re-infection, this time around, they aren’t ruling out the possibility of reinfection.

“As different strains of the virus spread, it is possible that Covid-19, like the seasonal flu, can re-infect patients. Should Covid-19, like the cold virus or the flu virus, mutate, re-infection is possible to a certain degree and also because immunity won’t last forever.”

Covid-19, the possibility of re-infection and what that means for vaccination and treatment. It’s the topic of our News In depth – live in the studio with us is Dr. Chulwoo Rhee of International Vaccine Institute.
Dr. Rhee, welcome back to the show.

Reports show that there have been hundreds of Korean patients who had tested positive a second time after recovery, but experts had not regarded them as reinfections, and considered them more relapses, saying dead virus fragments remaining in the patients’ bodies were likely detected in the tests.
Now, what’s different about this case in a woman in her 20s is that the coronavirus strain, or clade, that she was infected with the second time was different from the first.
So, does this indicate that as immunity cannot last forever, a person could contract COVID-19 repeatedly like influenza?

This particular patient was first diagnosed with COVID-19 in March, and her reinfection case was in April… why are results of reinfection coming out now?
Is it normal for tests and studies on reinfection to take this long? And does it mean that some 705 documented “second positive” cases all need follow-up tests?

The WHO has given the new coronavirus classifications of seven strains according to its amino acid.
The “GH” clade has been the most detected in recent weeks in South Korea, showing to spread faster than any of the other types while the second most common was the “V” clade mostly detected in the first initial wave of the outbreak.
Are any of the other clades currently present in South Korea? With travel restrictions still in place, are we safe from exposure to all seven clades?

Now, South Korea’s biotech company GC Pharma is speeding up its clinical trials of COVID-19 plasma therapy. They are set to start second-phase clinical trial of the investigative drug at six local trial sites later this week, and to conduct a phase three clinical trial later this month.
How does plasma treatment development compare with vaccine development?

The constantly surprising coronavirus has been found by a Hungarian team of health experts that the virus particle was able to withstand being probed by a nano needle 100 times, which makes it possibly the most physically elastic virus known.
French scientists have found that the coronavirus can replicate in animal cells after being exposed to temperatures of 60 degrees Celsius for an hour.
What does this rather daunting discovery say about our continued battle against this virus?

It is officially fall now and health experts are warning against a “twindemic” as we fold into flu season while COVID-19 is still ongoing. Detective symptoms of the coronavirus of fever and cough are similar to what we know to suspect the flu…
What is the difference, and could this similarity in symptoms hinder the battle against COVID-19?

There was an episode regarding flu shots last night. South Korea suspended free flu shots after reports emerged that some doses of the vaccine, which need to be refrigerated, had been exposed to room temperature while being transported to a medical facility.
How do vaccines need to be stored? What went wrong this time?

Just over the weekend there was a delayed quarantine case of a man in his 60s in Busan who attended a family funeral in the city of Suncheon. He was notified on his way to the funeral, yet failed to quarantine himself, resulting having been in contact with at least 170 people.
How do you see this cluster infection playing out? Will it hinder efforts that have dropped the number of new daily infection cases below 100 in the last few days?

The current level 2 social distancing scheme has been extended to September 27, up until before the upcoming Chuseok long holiday.
First, do you think the extended level 2 social distancing measures will bring the numbers down enough before the start of the holiday?
What measure do you think we need to take going in to the long Chuseok holiday?…

2020-09-22, 19:00 (KST)

#COVID19 #Reinfection #coronvirus