Can You Catch Covid-19 Twice – And What Does This Mean For A Vaccine?
Every Monday we’ll answer your questions on Covid-19 and health in a feature published online. You can submit a question here.
This week, HuffPost UK reader Coula asked: Can you catch the virus more than once?
Recently, a study confirmed what scientists long suspected: a person in Hong Kong was diagnosed with Covid-19 for the second time. And it wasn’t a continuation of his old illness, rather a new strain altogether.
Researchers at the University of Hong Kong’s (HKU) department of microbiology said the “apparently young and healthy patient” had a second episode of Covid-19 infection, which was diagnosed four and a half months after the first.
The second time, he had no symptoms and his infection was only picked up because of screening tests at Hong Kong airport. Genetic sequencing of the virus later showed he had been infected twice by different strains of Covid-19.
It makes sense that this is the case. If you think about the flu or common cold, there are various strains doing the rounds and you can often become sick with these multiple times in your life. Possibly even multiple times in a year.
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So, can we all get reinfected with Covid-19?
It’s complex, says Professor Danny Altmann, an expert in immunology at Imperial College London. It’s not a matter of black and white, let’s say – there’s plenty of grey. “The problem is, this is a new virus we’ve had full knowledge of since January 11,” he tells HuffPost UK.
“Also, we’ve never in our lifetimes had so many on the planet affected, so there’s an awful lot of diversity out there to understand.”
Since the start of the pandemic, Prof Altmann has spoken to a “steady trickle” of people convinced they’ve been infected by the virus twice. There’s a pattern he’s noticed: the...
