Japan confirms first case of person re-infected with coronavirus

[BeckyDem]

The reinfection has health officials worried the illness could stay dormant after signs of recovery.
By
Joseph Guzman

Japan is reporting its first case of a person becoming reinfected with the coronavirus after showing signs they had fully recovered, according to Reuters.

Osaka’s prefectural government confirmed Wednesday a woman working as a tour bus guide tested positive for coronavirus for the second time after developing a sore throat and chest pain. The woman, who is said to be in her 40s, first tested positive in late January and was discharged from the hospital on Feb. 1 after showing signs of recovery.

Reuters reports Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said the government would need to monitor the condition of others who were infected and later discharged as health experts investigate testing positive for COVID-19 after an initial recovery.

As much remains unknown about the virus, cases of reinfection have health experts worried that the illness could remain dormant after an apparent recovery.

https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/484942-japan-confirms-first-case-of-person-reinfected?fbclid=IwAR3ZSGcZhaZtxAXhreTtKKrwNd1Mf8gVqMIwqDkr8dhv1fGSEs7FqbQQHAQ

[Renew Deal]

1. Was she proprely discharged?

I hear that you now need two negative tests within a few days to get discharged.

[BeckyDem]

2. I don't know, when I read this I wondered what exactly happened too.

Maybe this will be easily dealt with but it kind of shocked me to say the least. Just think of the ramifications, it makes my head spin.

[htuttle]

3. The ramifications?

This is what life is like now.

...until someone comes up with a vaccine within the 12 month - 3 year timeframe.

And they don't use that knowledge to become sort sort of planetary overlords.

It's not as if nobody's thought of that possibility...

[Renew Deal]

4. It's the second time I've heard that someone was reinfected

The other was a case from China.

I just found an article that says they have over 100 of these cases in China: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-03-13/china-japan-korea-coronavirus-reinfection-test-positive

[Igel]

6. They're different things.

One says "ill with symptoms and a positive test" the other just says "positive test."

Why are they different?

Because the PCR test looks for specific peptide chains, and a dead or partly disassembled virus satisfies that requirement. You're fine, but shedding dead virus. You have to understand the test to understand the data.

The other says you test positive, and the virus is presumably causing symptoms.

Let's hope that the symptoms have a different etiology. Otherwise it has as a reasonable inference that you could have the virus recur, be shedding virus all over the place, and be asymptomatic for round 2. If that can happen to anybody, it means anybody who ever tested positive must be considered infectious.

[Princess Turandot]

5. Just an FYI: this story is from 2/27. So it's not a brand new development.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of new reporting on this topic. (China had noted a few cases as well around the same time.)

[BeckyDem]

7. Right but it did occur and with the increase of cases

here it's important for people to be aware of it. worrisome that people are still going out to bars and such as if being young will spare you.