Bengaluru has reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 reinfection in Bengaluru. The reinfection is seen in a 27-year-old woman who had first tested positive in July and was discharged after recovering from a mild form of the disease. The doctors at Fortis Hospital claim to be the first case showing that re-infection may occur within a few months. Tests conducted on the patient, who did not have any co-morbidities, show she did not develop any immunity towards the novel coronavirus, a statement from Fortis Hospital said.
An Infectious Diseases Consultant at Fortis Hospital’s Bannerghatta Road facility, Dr. Pratik Patil said, “This is possibly the first reported case of Covid reinfection in Bangalore”.
“In the first week of July, the patient was symptomatic (fever, cough and sore throat) and was tested positive. She was admitted to the hospital and recovered well.” “A repeat test was conducted on her, which turned out to be negative, post which she was discharged on July 24. However, nearly after one month, in the last week of August, she developed mild symptoms again and has been tested positive again. Both times she did not have severe disease,” he added.
“Normally, in case of infection, the Covid Immunoglobulin G antibody test comes positive after 2-3 weeks of infection (showing that the patient has developed Covid-fighting cells). However, in this patient, the antibody test has come out negative, which means she did not develop immunity after first infection. The other possibility is that the antibodies disappeared within a month, leaving her susceptible for reinfection,” Dr Patil said.
Karnataka has been consistently registering daily Covid infections in the range of 7,000 to 9,000 plus cases.
On Saturday 9,746 more Covid cases were registered in the state, taking its tally to 3.89 lakh.