WHO Says Looking Into Reports of Some COVID Patients Testing Positive Again

[denem]

Source: New York Times

GENEVA — The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday that it was looking into reports of some COVID-19 patients testing positive again after initially testing negative for the disease while being considered for discharge.

South Korean officials on Friday reported 91 patients thought cleared of the new coronavirus had tested positive again. Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a briefing that the virus may have been "reactivated" rather than the patients being re-infected.

The Geneva-based WHO, asked about the report from Seoul, told Reuters in a brief statement: "We are aware of these reports of individuals who have tested negative for COVID-19 using PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing and then after some days testing positive again.

"We are closely liaising with our clinical experts and working hard to get more information on those individual cases. It is important to make sure that when samples are collected for testing on suspected patients, procedures are followed properly," it said.


Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/04/11/world/asia/11reuters-health-coronavirus-who.html

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There have been a number of anacdoatal reports of people testing positive after earlier testing negative. This is hard evidence. The Korean CDC is suggesting "reactivation". There is also evidence for reinfection.

A team ... based at Fudan University in Shanghai, screened the blood of 175 Chinese patients who had recovered from mild forms of the illness to look for neutralizing antibodies.

Nearly a third of 175 patients studied produced low antibody levels. In 10 people, antibody levels were so low they could not be detected.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/scientists-at-odds-after-study-finds-coronavirus-antibody-anomaly-20200410-p54iwm.html

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Not surprising to me

Lyme disease, for example, is notorious for delays in detection, false readings, and going underground or hiding in tissue. We want this disease to be once and done, like a vaccination. But could it be more permanent to the human species? I'm no expert on how it stacks up as a virus. HPV, many types of virus that cause various warts, stay with us.

[mopinko]

5. i think the long term impacts will be a bear.

i had a moderate case of wnv, and it took me 10 years to shake it off.
sneaky as this thing seems to be, i fear survivors are gonna have a rough time.
i just hope they catch on fast to long term impacts, which i have seen them doing.
the worst thing is having a problem doctors dont believe in.

[bucolic_frolic]

7. worst thing is having a problem doctors dont believe in

Oh yes! Which shoots the myth that they can look at you for ten minutes and have a great idea of what's going on, just add a lab test. Why do they ask so many questions? To help them narrow it down because they only have a general idea. And if that idea is off, you are in no man's land.

Once I blew through half a dozen doctors all of whom said the same thing and gave antibiotics, went downhill further every time. None of them had a clue. Even the deep alt doc who finally got a diagnosis was getting his advice from emails to doctors in Germany. He shared one or two with me. So I am skeptical, and avoid them like the plague.

[imavoter]

11. What did you have

a problem with

[bucolic_frolic]

12. incompetent doctors /nt

[imavoter]

13. I gathered that.

Just wondering what issue
you had trouble getting diagnosed?

[bucolic_frolic]

14. Seriously

You have no boundaries?

[lagomorph777]

22. having a problem doctors dont believe in

Lyme and Epstein-Barr patients have dealt with this for decades. These things are destroying millions of lives.

[mopinko]

23. my fibromyalgia blew up w wnv.

viruses are amazing predators.
and women just arent heard.

[lagomorph777]

24. Yup - the germ theory of disease seems to be "just a theory" to many docs still.

[DENVERPOPS]

10. Agreed

Look at Herpes Zoster.....(Shingles) It hangs out in your spine and can come out time and time again if you aren't vaccinated...

[lagomorph777]

20. Lyme and Epstein-Barr Virus (and a number of other chronic infections).

It would be very shitty news if we find out that COVFEFE-19 can go chronic.

[bluestarone]

2. Happy to see you posted this!

We just DO NOT have a grip on this yet! Lots of investigating to be done BEFORE we are sure!

[earthside]

3. This is the scariest thing of all.

No or low levels of immunity will mean a reorganization of society.

We shouldn't be talking about "re-opening" the economy, but rather discussing and planning for how we are going to live with this virus. We can't let ourselves slip into an economic depression or a cultural dark age, that means adapting to prevention of COVID-19.

[ucrdem]

19. That's what I keep wondering.

What is the end game on this lockdown? Unless we're waiting for a vaccination, which could be a long wait, how is a month from now going to be any different from now?

[lagomorph777]

21. So far, the only way out of lockdown is mass testing.

No tech breakthrough is needed, but we will have to find a way to bypass Trump's blockade of testing.

However, re-activations or re-infections will complicate that path considerably.

[Raven123]

4. Good to hear they cited the need to evaluate testing procedures.

Also need to periodically run quality assurance tests on the the test kits.

[Igel]

8. They already know that most of the tests

have a high rate of false negatives.

It's also easy to get bad samples.

The fact that it's looking for RNA and not "live" viruses is also a problem. Dead virions, live virions, both test positive.

You don't know what the tests are like, how they work, you don't understand the data--and that's easy. Don't understand the data, then it's easy to misinterpret the data. Remember: Data are mute, they say nothing. When somebody says, "Just let the data speak for themselves" there should be utter silence until the speaker says, "Now I'll tell you what I think the correct interpretation is and why." If the speaker says anything else, he's trying to deceive you into thinking that somehow it's an a priori truth and not an interpretation--mostly to avoid that nasty bit where he has to explain, logically, how he reached his conclusions.

[denem]

9. People who were symptomatic and have tested positive

then later have no measurable antibodies, is not a case of false negatives. That is a foundation for reinfection hypothesis.

[greenjar_01]

17. Ayup

Reinfection will turn out to be fog of war horseshit.

Carry on.

[Botany]

6. So much for the idea that we can test for C-19 antibodies and then let those people go back to work

.... having the disease can give you immunity and or limited immunity. But I am not a Dr, a micro-
biologist, or an epidemiologist so I'll just wait until what experts like Laura Ingraham has to say on
the subject.

[riversedge]

15. not good not good at all.

[Steelrolled]

16. Keep looking WHO, and let us know when you have an answer.

I'm a bit skeptical of analysis from armchair experts on the Internet.

[lunasun]

18. That's bad news . I mean good research and more analysis of data but low antibody