Three years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Sars-CoV-2 virus is still circulating in the human population. Today, “Experts estimate that most individuals would have contracted the disease at least once […] And it’s very likely that in the decades to come we’ll all catch it many more times.” writes journalist Cassandra Willyard in an article for the general public in the journal Nature. The underlying question is whether repeated Sars-CoV-2 infections are dangerous or not.
Many scientists have addressed this crucial question. As Danny Altmann, an immunologist at Imperial College London, points out, “opinions are polarized in an almost pathological way”. On the one hand, there is the “reassuring” camp, who think that Sars-CoV-2 has become a commonplace respiratory virus, especially for those who have been vaccinated. On the other side, some believe that being infected repeatedly carries risks.
Several studies say that “reinfected people get rid of the virus more quickly, in five days on average, compared to seven for a primary infection”, reports the scientific weekly. People who received a dose of vaccine between the first and second infection clear the virus the fastest, according to Stephen Kissleran infectious disease specialist at Harvard University’s TH Chan School of Public Health.
Still risks six months after infection
But not all studies support these results and, as written Nature, “reinfection is not without danger”. This is revealed a publication published in Nature Medicine fin 2022, which compares people infected only once and others who have had two or more infections. The results shared by Nature are final: “People who have had repeated infections are twice as likely to die and three times more likely to be hospitalized, have heart problems or develop blood clots than those who have only had the infection once. time. Surprisingly, vaccination status does not appear to matter, although other studies show that vaccines have a protective effect.” Risks that would persist beyond the acute phase of the disease and even six months after reinfection.
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2023-04-28 14:51:46
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