Video number 33 of the channel, today talking about a case of someone being re-infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19. An interesting case report came out this week (linked below) of a person in Hong Kong developing a second infection of the virus. I think the evidence of re-infection is good, they sequence the whole genome which shows the two viruses are clearly genetically different. 24 mutations were seen when comparing the first and second cases at a whole genome level. But importantly, upon this secondary infection, the patient didn’t develop symptoms. So potentially, even if re-infection can occur, it may be milder and not something we need to worry about as much (similarly to the common cold coronaviruses). This study has some implications that I discuss, but it’s also important to note that this is one patient and one case of re-infection out of 24 million confirmed cases. We need more evidence to know if this is a common feature of this viral infection.
The paper:
Previous video talking about waning antibodies –
Timestamps:
0:00:57 – Out of intro and into talking about re-infection with common cold coronaviruses and an idea that maybe SARS2 could become similar
0:02:37 – Details about the patient and the two cases of infection
0:04:35 – *98% not 89%, I misspoke
0:04:46 – Whole genome sequence to give evidence of re-infection based on mutations between the two different viruses
0:08:36 – Talking about the patient’s antibodies
0:11:36 – Some further implications of this finding
0:13:34 – Summary and closing remarks
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And importantly through all this, stay safe, wash you hands, wear a mask (!!), keep calm and carry on.
