Despite having recovered from the initial infection, the elderly Chinese woman being reinfected raises questions of the timeline of elimination of coronavirus from our body.
In a rather twist to the precluding question whether Covid-19 can be reinfected, a 68-year-old woman has been tested positive for the virus after six months she recovered from the disease, health authorities in China have confirmed. The insurgence of the virus raises questions of its timeline to be eliminated from the body. The isolated yet rare case of the woman has been reported from Jingzou region of China’s Hubei province.
The first trace of the virus infection in China is believed to be in December 2019 when it emerged in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in China before spreading across the country and spread worldwide at a rapid pace turning out to be one of the most challenging pandemics of recent times.
The 68-year-old elderly patient was initially infected with the outbreak when it was first reported in China and then she had recovered and was discharged in February. However, she was diagnosed again on 9th August after showing symptoms. While she has been quarantined, her immediate contacts have been tested negative for the virus.
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According to a virologist who briefed the state media, it takes a long time for the virus to be eliminated from the body. However, those tested positive again are not infectious claiming the details based on scientific studies.
Early last week, a survey was conducted by Wuhan’s Zhongnam Hospital which revealed that 90% of recovered patients suffer from lung damage and 5 % had tested positive again for Coronavirus and had to be quarantined.
Dr Peng Zhiyong, director of the ICU department of Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University have been conducting the sampling survey with 100 patients recovered from Coronavirus. The results showed that the antibodies against the Coronavirus have disappeared.
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5% of patients tested negative for Covid-19 nucleic acid tests while they showed positive in Immunoglobulin (IgM) tests. Many patients experienced social stigma with their own family members hesitant to dine with them and only half of the recovered patients have returned to work.
China had contained the spread of Coronavirus in its initial stage while quite recently there has been isolated cluster cases which have been reported of late. China has so far reported 84,737 cases with the city of Wuhan tops the list with 68,138 cases. 25 new cases have been reported as on Wednesday according to China’s National Health Commission (NHC).
