Findings From COVID-19 Reinfection Study Released By The Lancet

UPDATE, October 12, 2020:

A peer-reviewed journal posted a study on a COVID-19 reinfection case this week.

The Lancet, Infectious Diseases posted the findings on Monday.

The study states a 25-year-old man from Washoe County tested positive for COVID-19 twice and the two viral agents were "genetically distinct."

It says his second infection was more severe than the first.

Conclusions of the study say all people must take precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, regardless of whether or not they've already caught it.

You can read the full study here.

Original Story, August 28, 2020:

Scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med), led by its Nevada State Public Health Laboratory (NSPHL) are studying a likely case of COVID-19 reinfection.

Officials say forty-eight days after testing positive for COVID-19 in April 2020 and after testing negative consecutively twice, a 25-year-old Reno man tested positive again, in June.

They say the patient had tested negative on two separate occasions in the interim.

Officials say the genomes of the patient's virus samples were sequenced in April and June, displaying significant genetic discordance between the two cases, implying the patient was infected twice.

They say a team of researchers, including Mark Pandori, Ph.D., director, NSPHL; Stephanie Van Hooser, MBA, CLS, MLS (ASCP), administrative director, NSPHL; Richard Tillett, Ph.D., former bioinformatician with the University's Nevada Center for Bioinformatics and now with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Nevada Institute of Personalized Medicine; Subhash Verma, Ph.D., and Cyprian Rossetto, Ph.D., researchers in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at UNR Med; Paul Hartley, Ph.D., director, Nevada Genomics Center; and David Jackson, DNA technical leader, supervising criminalist, Washoe County Sheriff's Office Forensic Sciences Unit, are refining scientific information as the pandemic continues. The research effort's genomics sequencing and data analysis were supported by the University's Nevada Genomics Center and Nevada Bioinformatics Center.

"We examined the genomic material of the viruses and samples to investigate this, says Pandori. "It is just one finding, but it shows that a person can possibly become infected with COVID-19 a second time."

Official say that to solidify confidence in the case, Pandori and the research team partnered with the Washoe County Sheriff's Office Forensic Sciences Unit to conduct identity testing on the specimens and lab samples evaluated in the study to verify the specimens were from the same person.

They say embedded in the genomic material of COVID-19 is a detailed code that Pandori says may provide insight to better understanding of this virus.

"A virus has a biological genome like all living things. Since March, the NSPHL has analyzed the genomic RNA of approximately 200 positive COVID-19 samples from Nevadans who have tested positive for COVID-19," said Pandori. "The power of genomic information could turn the tables in the fight against the coronavirus."

Officials say the information is shared to a world-wide database known as "GISAID"," alongside the work of thousands of researchers.

According to Pandori and the NSPHL-led research team, reinfection cases are a potential warning sign that it is possible to catch COVID-19 more than once, and with unpredictable severity.

"If reinfection is possible on such a short timeline, there may be implications for the efficacy of vaccines developed to fight the disease. It may also have implications for herd immunity," says Pandori. "It is important to note, that this is a singular finding. It does not provide any information to us with regard to the generalizability of this phenomenon."

Officials say herd immunity depends on the theory that after natural infection, our immune systems will collectively protect us as a community from reinfection and further spread.

They say there are currently many more unknowns than knowns about immune responses to COVID-19.

"After one recovers from COVID-19, we still do not know how much immunity is built up, how long it may last, or how well antibodies play a role in protection against a reinfection," says Pandori."

Pandori says the hard work of fighting this pandemic together will continue through the use of facial coverings, hand-washing, social distancing, as well as wide-scale testing, contact tracing, and isolation of new cases.

"This is a novel disease. We still have a steep learning curve ahead and lots of work to do, especially as inconvenient truths arise," says Pandori.

The NSPHL team are publishing their COVID-19 reinfection findings. Their report is publicly accessible on the SSRN preprint server, at here.