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NNadir

(37,647 posts)
5. No problem. I'm not always very good at translating stuff to non-scientists.
Mon Mar 30, 2020, 10:29 AM
Mar 2020

It is very rare for a viral infection to recur in a recovered patient, since recovery implies that the patient has developed effective antibodies and is resistant to further infection.

A huge exception to this case is HIV infections, where the immune system itself is under attack.

This said, viruses can and do mutate rapidly owing to their very primitive and error prone replication system. In HIV, where the immune system is itself compromised, and where non compliance issues (skipping doses of antiviral drugs) a number of mutations have been shown to arise, and patients can develop drug resistant strains.

There are, in some disease models, cases where "reservoirs" are not accessible to antibodies, but they are not, to my understanding, typically viral diseases. This scenario is well known in some types of cancer diseases, where cancer cells are localized in an area to which a treatment drug is not able to penetrate.

I have read papers indicating that the virus may have originated in pangolins - ant eaters - and became "humanized" when the virus developed in humans. I have a post in this section discussing this scenario, but it may be, as you say, "spaghetti."

The operative point here is that if you know someone who has recovered from Covid-19 it may not be safe to assume that they cannot infect a person.

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Ehh what? SWBTATTReg Mar 2020 #1
If someone has had Covid and has recovered from it, they can still be contagious. n/t. NNadir Mar 2020 #2
Thanks, I got this drift, it was just the article was kind of a spaghetti word salad to me...perhaps SWBTATTReg Mar 2020 #3
No problem. I'm not always very good at translating stuff to non-scientists. NNadir Mar 2020 #5
Thanks so much. A good article. Be safe and healthy. NT SWBTATTReg Mar 2020 #8
thanks for the info. Combined with the statement WhiteTara Mar 2020 #9
There seems to be an endpoint for being infectious. It is NOT forever. NNadir Mar 2020 #11
Thanks. That staying infectious AFTER getting well WhiteTara Mar 2020 #14
This was a fluke--it doesn't happen often. Igel Mar 2020 #16
Well, it's very obvious that disease syndromes with the mortality rate of Black Plague are rare. NNadir Mar 2020 #18
You said there are conditions where mutations are known to arise. defacto7 Mar 2020 #12
The mechanism by which resistance arises in bacteria, and in viruses is similar. NNadir Mar 2020 #13
you are a wealth of information WhiteTara Mar 2020 #15
Excellent explanation. defacto7 Mar 2020 #20
Have you seen anything about immunity after WhiteTara Mar 2020 #4
No, the only thing I heard is that you can get CV again, and also heard that once you have, you ... SWBTATTReg Mar 2020 #6
Perhaps those catching it again either did not fully recover yet or they caught a mutation? cstanleytech Mar 2020 #23
I just touched on this case in a response to another post. NNadir Mar 2020 #7
Good info in a pinch. defacto7 Mar 2020 #10
Still doubtful. Igel Mar 2020 #17
The state of the virus is, if you read the paper, indeterminate. NNadir Mar 2020 #19
Caution is vital Warpy Mar 2020 #22
Thanks again for all of the information, and I especially wanted to wish your sister-in-law Get ... SWBTATTReg Mar 2020 #24
Thank you so much for this Warpy Mar 2020 #21
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