More than 3 000 people reinfected with Covid in W Cape

WHILE immunity following an infection, as well as reinfections with SARSCoV-2 is not fully understood, there are more than 3 000 confirmed cases of people who have been diagnosed with Covid-19 more than once in the province.

The provincial health department said there were an estimated 3 200 reinfections in the Western Cape, based on laboratory-confirmed diagnosis.

“Reinfections are defined as individuals testing positive for SARSCoV-2 infection with 90 or more days between positive tests. This can be with or without a negative test in between.

“An important caveat is that these are known reinfections in people who opted to get tested in both instances.

“We know that not everyone who may have been infected has been tested – and therefore what may appear as a first infection to us, could be a reinfection,” the department said.

There is ongoing work to investigate the probability of severe sickness in those who are reinfected and possible long-term effects.

Data is being analysed to determine any deaths among those reinfected.

“Immunity following an infection with SARS-CoV-2 is not fully understood and, therefore, neither are reinfections.

“Reinfections occur if the immune response to the first infection is insufficient or has waned and so does not prevent a second infection, or if the virus has mutations that enable it to evade the immune response.

“Repeat infection with SARSCoV-2 is possible but needs to be differentiated from prolonged viral shedding.

“Timing between tests and additional testing, including sequencing of viral genetic material, can aid in distinguishing between the two.’’

Nicola Date, a theatre-maker, comic and designer from Century City, said she was diagnosed with Covid-19 twice in the space of eight months.

“I had Covid-19 in May last year. I had a positive test, had all the symptoms and was very sick. I had some issues with oxygen and I experienced long-haul Covid-19 afterwards,” she said.

It took about three months for Date’s condition to improve.

“In December, I started to feel sick and I didn’t even think this would be Covid.

“I went to the doctor and the Covid test came back positive. Once again, I had a full bout of Covid and was hospitalised,” Date said, adding she had excessive bleeding.

She was discharged two days later, amid the second wave of infections sweeping the country.

“Once again, it took me about three months to feel entirely better. There were certain aspects (of reinfection) that were the same, the headache, lack of smell and taste.

“The general feeling of sickness was horrendous the second time. It’s difficult when you are very fit, and then you have something that affects your lungs.

“I go for runs, but it’s not like it was,” Date said.

The likelihood of reinfection increases over time, the health department said, in part owing to waning immunity from natural infection and exposure to other variants, particularly in the context of greater exposure to the virus, for example, high levels of community transmission.

“The B.1.351 variant does have ‘immune-escape mutations’. There are studies showing that in people who had Covid-19 infections during the first wave, their antibody response to the B.1.351 variant is substantially lower than their response to non-variant virus, suggesting that immune escape can occur.

“It is not yet clear what the realworld implications of this are, and to date there is no clear evidence that reinfections played a major role in driving the second wave.”