Karnataka Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar on Monday instructed officials to conduct a clinical study about probable cases of COVID-19 reinfection. This, after it was widely reported that a 27-year-old woman from Bengaluru became the first person to test positive for the coronavirus again, a month after her recovery.
Expressing concern over the reinfection of the patient who was discharged from a hospital in July after recovery, the Minister said it should be dealt with carefully and efforts must be taken to dispel fears among people.
"Minister Dr K Sudhakar has instructed the officials to conduct a clinical study about the coronavirus reinfection cases," his office said in a statement.
Referring to the woman found infected with coronavirus for a second time at Fortis Hospital, the Minister, who held a meeting with COVID-19 task force officials, said that several other countries have reported cases of reinfection and each country has come up with a different reason for it.
According to the statement, an official said that when a person recovers from COVID-19, it takes at least 15 days for production of white blood cells and this might lead to reinfection in some patients. However, this cannot be considered as the definite reason for the reinfection, it was stated.
"Responding to this, the Minister demanded clarity over coronavirus reinfection, and instructed officials concerned to submit a report regarding the treatment of special cases such as this in other states," the statement said.
The Fortis Hospital at Bannerghatta Road has said the woman has been found to be the "first" confirmed victim of COVID-19 reinfection in the city. The hospital's Infectious Diseases Consultant Dr Pratik Patil said that in the first week of July, the patient was symptomatic (fever, cough and sore throat) and tested positive. She was admitted to the hospital and recovered well.
A repeat test was conducted on her, which turned out to be a negative, after which she was discharged on July 24.
However, after one month, in the last week of August, she developed mild symptoms again and has tested positive again, Patil said in a statement.
This was possibly the first reported case of COVID-19 reinfection in Bengaluru, Patil said, adding that normally, in case of infection, the antibodies develop after two to three weeks of being infected. However, in this patient, the antibody test returned negative, which means she did not develop immunity after infection.
Another possibility was that the antibodies disappeared in one month leaving her susceptible to reinfection, he said.
"Reinfection cases mean that the antibodies may not be produced by every individual or if they do develop, they may not last long enough, and therefore, allowing the virus to enter the body and cause the disease again," Dr Patil said.