How strong is the evidence that it is possible to get SARS-CoV-2 twice? A systematic review

6Citations
Citations of this article
59Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.
Get full text

Abstract

With a large number of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients being discharged from hospital with negative test results for SARS-CoV-2, it has been reported that several recovered cases tested positive after discharge (re-positive, RP). This finding has raised several important questions for this novel coronavirus and Covid-19 disease. In this review, we have discussed several important questions, including: (1) Can the virus re-infect recovered individuals? (2) What are the possible causes of the re-positive reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test in recovered patients? (3) What are the implications of these re-positive cases concerning the spread of the virus? Understanding how recovery from Covid-19 confers immunity to decrease the risk of re-infection is needed to inform current efforts to safely scale back population-based interventions, such as physical distancing. We have also described what is currently known about the immune response to Covid-19, highlighted key gaps in knowledge, and identified opportunities for future research. Overall, the quality of the evidence is poor and we describe the features that should be described for future cases.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Farrukh, L., Mumtaz, A., & Sana, M. K. (2021, September 1). How strong is the evidence that it is possible to get SARS-CoV-2 twice? A systematic review. Reviews in Medical Virology. John Wiley and Sons Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/rmv.2203

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free