We read with great interest in this journal the description by Tomassini et al. of
six possible cases of re-infection with SARS-CoV-2 in England.
1
The characterization and extent of such re-infections are currently increasingly
investigated, and their implications are a growing concern.
- Tomassini S.
- Kotecha D.
- Bird P.
- Folwell A.
- Biju S.
- Tang J.W.
Setting the criteria for SARS-CoV-2 reinfection – six possible cases.
J Infect. 2020; (S0163-4453(20)30546-6. Online ahead of print)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinf.2020.08.011
2
Indeed, the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in December 2019 in China was followed by the
worldwide spread of the virus and its circulation for several months (https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html). In several European countries, including France, the outbreak almost ended during
spring, but a second COVID-19 outbreak occurred in late summer (https://covid19-country-overviews.ecdc.europa.eu/). We observed such an evolution of SARS-CoV-2 diagnoses at the Méditerranée Infection
Institute in Marseille, France, where we have performed more than 300,000 SARS-CoV-2
qPCR since end of January 2020 and have detected the first infection at the end of
February (https://www.mediterranee-infection.com/covid-19/). As the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is still on-going, a current major issue is whether
or not and how long immune responses to the virus are protective. In this regard,
it is important to prove the cases of reinfection, which were first reported in August
in Hong Kong.
- Overbaugh J.
Understanding protection from SARS-CoV-2 by studying reinfection.
Nat Med. 2020; (Online ahead of print)https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-1121-z
2
Tomassini et al. defined re-infection as qPCR positivity at least 28 days after a
previous qPCR-positive Covid-19 episode that was followed by clinical recovery and
at least one negative qPCR.
- Overbaugh J.
Understanding protection from SARS-CoV-2 by studying reinfection.
Nat Med. 2020; (Online ahead of print)https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-1121-z
1
We report here a patient with two infections at a 105 days interval despite seroconversion.
In addition to Tomassini et al.’ criteria for re-infection, we demonstrated by genotypic
analyses that the two successive infections involved distinct viral variants and that
samples tested were collected from the same individual.- Tomassini S.
- Kotecha D.
- Bird P.
- Folwell A.
- Biju S.
- Tang J.W.
Setting the criteria for SARS-CoV-2 reinfection – six possible cases.
J Infect. 2020; (S0163-4453(20)30546-6. Online ahead of print)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinf.2020.08.011
Keywords
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References
- Setting the criteria for SARS-CoV-2 reinfection – six possible cases.J Infect. 2020; (S0163-4453(20)30546-6. Online ahead of print)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinf.2020.08.011
- Understanding protection from SARS-CoV-2 by studying reinfection.Nat Med. 2020; (Online ahead of print)https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-1121-z
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Shastri J, Parikh S, Agarwal S. Whole genome sequencing confirmed SARS-CoV-2 reinfections among healthcare workers in India with increased severity in the second episode. Preprint SSRN 2020; http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3688220.
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Goldman JD, Wang K, Roltgen K, Nielsen SCA, Roach JC, Naccache SN, et al. Reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 and failure of humoral immunity: a case report. Preprint medRxiv 2020; doi:10.1101/2020.09.22.20192443.
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: November 15, 2020
Accepted:
November 11,
2020
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The British Infection Association.
