In Israel, a doctor has tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 after having already contracted the disease three months before. This unpleasant surprise revives fears that recovered patients are not immune, even immediately after recovery.
In an article from July 17, 2020, the daily The Times of Israel evokes the case of a doctor working at Sheba Medical Center, Israel's largest hospital in Ramat Gan. The man is said to have contracted the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus for the first time in April 2020. However, the latter received a negative diagnosis in May and June before being again positive in July ! This corresponds to the announcement by researchers from Tel Aviv University on July 2, 2020. They had indeed claimed that all people infected with the coronavirus had antibodies for at least two months.
The daily cites a report from Channel 13, which relayed the information first. The doctor is said to have been infected for the first time during the initial epidemic, before recovering and contracting the virus again after coming into contact with another carrier. In addition, the chain mentioned that it would be the second case of this type in the same hospital. Indeed, another patient recovered from the coronavirus before being admitted again with pneumonia.
The antibodies and immunity of cured patients is a source of uncertainty. Several reports have raised the possibility that individuals can be rapidly re-infected soon after their recovery. However, reviews mentioned possible testing issues.
Furthermore, it seems that some patients produce antibodies and others do not. The Israeli daily evokes the case of two staff members of another medical center. These, now cured, had contracted the virus but had no antibodies. However, since antibodies protect against possible reinfection, this means that these people are not immune.
A British study pre-published on the medRxiv platform on June 9, 2020 had attempted to define the rate of non-immune Covid-19 patients. According to the results, between 2 and 8.5% of patients infected would not develop any antibodies! The study indicated that the production of antibodies seems proportional to the intensity of the symptoms . In other words, patients who have developed a severe infection would be more likely to have developed antibodies.
At the end of February 2020, we mentioned for the first time the case of a person infected twice with SARS-CoV-2 in Japan. The patient had contracted the virus twice just a month apart! At that time, the Japanese health authorities were already mentioning the need for monitoring of recovered patients.
