Coronavirus: Scientists conclude people cannot be infected twice

[Steelrolled]

Source: msn / sky new

A number of reported cases of coronavirus patients relapsing after overcoming the disease were actually due to testing failures, South Korean scientists say.

Researchers at the South Korean centre for disease control and prevention (CDC) now say it is impossible for the COVID-19 virus to reactivate in human bodies.

...

A total of 277 patients in the country were believed to have fallen ill for a second time, as had patients in China and Japan. This prompted concerns that the virus could be mutating so quickly that people were not necessarily immune to catching it again.

However, genetic analyses of the virus have not found any substantial changes which would effectively disguise it from the immune system.

Read more: https://news.sky.com/story/amp/coronavirus-scientists-conclude-people-cannot-be-infected-twice-11981721

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Hopefully they are now correct - very good news if so.

[elleng]

1. Yes, good news if correct.

[Thekaspervote]

2. Oh thx for for posting....we can all use some good news!!

[Igel]

3. The PCR test doesn't check for live viruses.

It checks for RNA. Diced and chopped dead virus test positive.

The S. Korean's earlier this week repeated, it would appear, some tests to check for live virus. They found that all the virus samples that were testing positive were inactive. The test was so sensitive it was picking up the traces of SARS-CoV-2 that hadn't yet been cleared from the body.

[cstanleytech]

4. So could that explain the testing that supposedly found the virus on the cruise ships? As in they

found the RNA of the virus but it was dead so other than living for more than a few days on surfaces it does die?

[Phoenix61]

11. The article that reported finding the virus on

the cruise ships buried the fact they just found the RNA at almost the end of the article. The headline read they had found the virus.

[cstanleytech]

12. I thought it was probably something like that......thanks for confirming it.

[AllyCat]

17. That gives me some hope for my N95 re-use schedule

I originally was only cycling every 10 days, but after the cruise ship report, I went to 3 weeks. With no data, I’m only working on best estimate.

[Hoyt]

5. If confirmed, with qualifications like rapid mutations, this would be best news lately.

[OnlinePoker]

6. So, if you've had it (symptomatic or assymptomatic), do you still need the vaccine if it comes?

Would they have to test everyone to see if they have the virus antibodies already?

[relayerbob]

7. At this point, that is not known

It may take repeated inoculations each year to gain temporary immunity.

Or not. Immunity may be permanent.

Or the vaccine will provide some protection, but less then actually getting the disease

Time will tell, but this is good news!

[reACTIONary]

36. It would be best...

.... to get vaccinated regardless. It wouldn't hurt and you would be sure you were protected.

[jimlup]

8. That is much expected but a huge relief if true...

guess we'll have confirmation soon. Hope this is it.

[applegrove]

9. Wonderful news.

[Historic NY]

10. Thats good my friends were worry that they might get it again and if they can still infect people

[PatrickforO]

13. OK, that's good, if true.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. Well, good. And I'm not very surprised.

If those recovering from this did not get at least a temporary immunity, then we'd be seeing a whole host of second infections. But we haven't.

I know that the general rule is that if you get a virus and you recover from it you are now immune, usually forever. If this were totally different, that recovering meant zero immunity that would mean the human race is doomed. I'm hoping we are not.

[stopdiggin]

15. alright. but haven't I heard that there are people that relapsed

with the disease process itself? Sick .. recovered (or in remission) .. then sick again?

[Steelrolled]

20. You probably have heard it

I've heard a lot of reports over the last couple months, often times seemingly inconsistent.

[lostnfound]

31. Yes. Me too. I'll find the link.

“Some of the patients testing positive again showed no symptoms, while others were suffering from fevers and respiratory issues, according to the Financial Times. “


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/10/south-korea-reports-recovered-coronavirus-patients-testing-positive/

[mathematic]

32. This story is literally SK scientists correcting the errors from that initial analysis. n/t

[greenjar_01]

34. Good Lord

That's literally what this article is debunking.

[2naSalit]

16. IF. ...nt

[AllyCat]

18. I don't recognize this news source.

What do we know about it? I can’t find another site reporting this.

[Steelrolled]

19. It is beginning to be picked up by more major outlets

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/coronavirus-patients-cant-relapse-south-korean-scientists-believe-rkm8zm7d9

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200429000724

https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-reinfections-were-false-positives.html

[TomVilmer]

21. WHO: No Studies Have Shown That You'll Be Immune To The Coronavirus If You've Been Infected Before

There is currently no evidence showing that people who had the coronavirus can't contract the virus again, the World Health Organization said in a scientific brief. Very little is yet known about whether antibodies to the coronavirus can prevent reinfection, or how long such protection might last.

Studies show people who have recovered from the coronavirus appear to have antibodies. But some people also show low levels of neutralizing antibodies in their blood suggesting that cellular immunity — T-cells that recognize and eliminate other cells infected with the virus — is necessary for recovery along with antibodies.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/olivianiland/world-health-organization-coronavirus-immunity-passport

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. If you're gonna do that, check DATES. Your link is April 25, updated 27. OLD NEWS. . . . nt

[pansypoo53219]

22. well, my mom + her 2 siblings had that bad flu(last of 1918's) and they are immune to flues since.

hopefully covid too.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

25. Influenza goes in cycles. This years flu was like one from mid-1950s. Let me guess she never had ...

People who had that back then are immune to this year's flu (though I could be wrong about the dates, maybe it was last year's flu).

However, there is no broad immunity to all influenzas. Your mom was just lucky and had a generally strong and balanced immune system.

Let me guess: she did not suffer from many if any allergies? Another guess: she didn't have diabetes? I think not having those two things indicate a nicely tuned immune system.

[Ford_Prefect]

24. I will believe in immunuity when the studies show it persists and they are replicated

across the planet.

They have identified over 30 mutations and it seems very unlikely that you would be immune to all of them. This is an aggressive viral infection and seems to be very robust in the way it resists treatment. It also seems to produce widely varying symptoms of initial infection

While I would like to have faith in the claims of the studies in the article I think we are far too early in the research for it to be universally predictive. Will it remain true 6 months from now or next year when we are perhaps observing further waves of infection and disease spread? Will it remain true for those exposed to different strains of the virus? Will it remain true where the diversity of genetic patterns in the population are different than where the testing has been done presently, or where the predominant diet or social stress levels or other underlying conditions are markedly different?

I hope that the studies are meaningful and predictive, but this ain't my first rodeo.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

26. They have identified over 4000 mutations. Four thousand. Most are inconsequential

Some strains have as many as 21 mutations in their RNA.

NextStrain.org has been tracking them and it proves that most of New York's blow up came from tRump's beloved white people from Europe and UK, which he didn't ban until after the Five Lost Weeks in February.

https://nextstrain.org/ncov/global?dmax=2020-04-20&dmin=2019-12-26&m=div&p=full

[oldsoftie]

27. Theres a difference between "testing positive" & "falling ill"

Because if they got SICK a second time, how do they explain that?

[reACTIONary]

37. They could get sick with a disease of a different sort...

... with similar symptoms.

[Maxheader]

28. Wow! Big news!

Awhile back I read a lot of pessimistic views about this?

But now that I think about it, the virus turned out to be remnants..
–—

Finding remnants of the virus?

For now, the most likely explanation of why people are retesting positive seems to be that the test is picking up remnants of the virus.

The KCDC has re-investigated three cases from the same family where patients tested positive after recovering, Kwon says.

In each of these cases, scientists tried to incubate the virus but weren't able to -- that told them there was no live virus present.

Like many countries, South Korea uses a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to test for the virus. The RT-PCR test works by finding evidence of a virus's genetic information -- or RNA -- in a sample taken from the patient.

According to Kwon, these tests may still be picking up parts of the RNA even after the person has recovered because the tests are so sensitive.

"That's one possible and very strong explanation," he said.

The same theory was posited by one of China's top respiratory experts, Zhong Nanshan. In a press conference earlier this week, he said that a recovered person can test positive because fragments of the disease remained in their body.

"I'm not too worried about this issue," he added.

[FakeNoose]

29. I HOPE this is true!

We all want to believe this, otherwise there's no hope at all. However we cannot allow wishful thinking to stop scientific inquiry. The Covid-19 pandemic needs to be studied further because there are still too many unanswered questions.

"Thank you" to the researchers in South Korean CDC for giving us something to believe in!

[Hugin]

30. I'll wait until a news outlet other than sky reports it including the names of which scientists...

And some actual, y'know. Data.

If you recall, "Some experts" agreed that injecting cleansers was a good idea according to the NYT.

[58Sunliner]

33. Will it mutate? Will compromised people not be able to fight it?

"The CDC added that unlike other viruses, such as HIV and chickenpox - which can break into the nucleus of human cells and stay latent for years before reactivating - the coronavirus stays outside of the host cell's nucleus.

"This means it does not cause chronic infection or recurrence," explained Dr Oh Myoung-don, the head of the CDC committee, meaning it is unlikely for patients to relapse in this fashion.

In the future it could be possible that the coronavirus mutates and infects people who have previously overcome it, similarly to the flu."

[Steelrolled]

35. The head of the Korean CDC that you quote said "it could be possible"

Which sounds like a pretty good answer. I expect he/she would give the same answer if asked "could we get a new pandemic 100 times worse than this one?" or "could CORVID-19 mutate into something much less harmful and put an end to the pandemic?"

For now, it seems we don't expect reinfection of what we are dealing with. My understanding is this is not a big surprise, but given previous reports, it is very good news.