Contentious Issue in Recurrent COVID-19 Infection: Reactivation or Reinfection

摘要

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread over 200 countries in the form of a pandemic. The few favorable features include the mild nature of infection in most patients and the role of social distancing and personal protective equipment in preventing the spread [1]. However, the natural history of infection, symptoms, recovery, and cure still remain unclear. In addition, recovery and subsequent protective immunity are the areas of active focus, presence and duration of which is an important question to answer. Although a study claimed that COVID-19 infection gives rise to a long-lasting and robust T-cell-mediated immunity for asymptomatic/mild disease [2], another study has shown varied timing of antibody-mediated response with decrease in immunoglobulin M levels in 3 weeks of infection and persisting immunoglobulin M response [3].