How New Variants May Affect Your Chances of COVID Re -infection –

Last year, coronavirus reinfection seemed rare. Yes, it is, but it is likely that most people who already have COVID will not be infected with the virus any time soon.

But recent data suggests that re -infections are more common, especially when new variants emerge. The New York Department of Health recently published a Relationships Which shows that just over 4% of all COVID infections in the state are re -infected and almost 87% of them were reported after December 2021. the state of Washington It was reported that after September 2021, 45,312 people reported re-infection: 2.3% of them were hospitalized and 0.2% died.

The growth of re -infections is likely to be influenced by two factors: one is that new variants can evade the antibody response and re -infect, and the second is that we resolve infections more tightly and get more accurate. picture of their frequency.

Coronaviruses are known to infect humans repeatedly. In fact, it is widely believed that the common cold coronavirus that spreads (and often infects humans) today originated from previous outbreaks of the coronavirus. Many infectious disease doctors suspect that, like these strains, we may be re-infected, but over time the symptoms will become milder and milder.

“The more immunity we get as our T cells differentiate and expand, hopefully our second reinfection won’t be as intense as our first,” he said. Monica GandhiUniversity of California, San Francisco Infectious Disease Specialist.

We now know that the antibodies that prevent infection are starting to go down. How many months After vaccination or infection. Furthermore, after a coronavirus mutation, it is relatively unrecognized by the immune system.

As a result, variants can cross the first line of defense of the immune system and re -infect us. Julie ParsonetAn epidemiologist and professor of infectious diseases at Stanford University School of Medicine.

“At Omicron, we see a lot of cases in people who have previously been infected, even though they’ve been vaccinated,” Parsonet said.

Pablo Penaloza-Mc MasterAn assistant professor of microbiology-immunology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine said people who have just recovered from an infection or have recovered may be more easily reinfected in about six months.

Parsonet noted that he has heard of at least one patient who was fully vaccinated and doubled to omicron infected six weeks after the previous infection.

Search Study However discovered from Denmark Also Rarely, re -infection with omicron subtypes can occur within at least 20 days. Of the 1.8 million infections reported between November 2021 and February 2022, 1,739 re -infections were identified within 60 days.

This does not mean that after a few months of recovery there is a high probability that you will still be infected with COVID. In fact, a Pre-press analysis It was recently found that infections are 90% more common in people who have already had covi than in people who have not been infected. Being vaccinated in addition to the vaccine really makes you stronger Levels of antibodies, And that should keep most people safe from infection for at least four months, Gandhi said.

Determining who is most likely to become infected is not an exact science – some people will be more protected and less at risk of re -infection, depending on similar factors. Age, genetics and primary health. According to Penaloza -MacMaster, the frequency of reinfection also depends on the variant – the type of mutations the virus receives – and the viral load a person is exposed to.

Most evidence suggests that re -infections with COVID are usually less severe than the initial infection. In Danish StudyAlmost all re -infected with BA.2 prior to BA.1 experienced mild symptoms within a few days and a second significant reduction in viral load, even those who had not been vaccinated.

“Re -infections, especially in people who have been vaccinated, are usually milder than the initial infection because there is already a memory arsenal of T and B cells. Said Penaloza-McMaster.

Research He suggests that reinfection and enhancers improve the T cell response. “As you might expect, reinfection usually protects you from fatal consequences,” Gandhi said. Of course, amplifiers are the safest – you don’t want to accidentally reinfect.

According to Penaloza-MacMaster, the severity of an individual’s reinfection is also affected by the option they make on the dose of virus they have been exposed to and whether they have underlying health conditions that threaten them. But, often, this can be unpredictable.

One of the key questions that epidemiologists monitor is how re-infections contribute to chronic COVID.

We know that COVID affects many organs, including the brain, lungs, and heart. Inflammation, which helps clear infected cells from the body, is a normal part of the body’s response to infections. When the body kills cells infected with the virus, it also destroys our healthy cells.

“AT.“The limitation of the virus indicates a large amount of‘ some damage, ’which is the main reason why chronic inflammation – which occurs in chronic infections – is harmful,” Penaloza -McMaster said.

If etRe-infections contribute to prolonged brood, and the potential damage to our organs is unclear. Research It has been found that vaccination has reduced the risk of chronic COVID in people who have had a breakthrough infection, Gandhi said. And although most people with SARS-CoV-2 recover well without long-term consequences, it is not yet known if they will continue after so many infections.

“We don’t know the answer to this question, especially because with changing options, our immune systems react differently to them, greatly changing its effects on the body,” Parsonet said.