COVID-19 National Reference Laboratory, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran; Department of Arboviruses and Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (National Reference Laboratory), Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
Department of Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses of Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
Microb Pathog. 2021 Dec;161(Pt B):105296. doi: 10.1016/j.micpath.2021.105296. Epub 2021 Nov 18.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic initiation, the possibility of re-infection has been unclearly present. Although herd immunity has a potential reliance through natural infection, human corona viruses has the ability to subvert immunity and re-infection happens for seasonal corona viruses. Currently, the frequency of SARS-CoV-2 re-infection incidence is not exactly defined. In this study we aimed at determination of SARS-CoV-2 re-infection rate in Iranian population. In a total of 5696 COVID-19 suspicious individuals, RT-PCR was applied to diagnose the infection. The confirmed patients were followed for 12 months and serology tests were applied to measure the specific antibodies. Among 1492 confirmed COVID-19 cases, five individuals experienced the subsequent infection. The re-infection/reactivation incidence rate was totally 0.33% after one year of follow-up. The interval ranged from 63 to 156 days. All the cases had viral mutations in the second episode of the infection. All of them were symptomatic cases with moderate severity. The estimated rate of SARS-CoV-2 in Persian population is therefore rare and natural infection seems to induce good protection against re-infection which clarifies that mass vaccination can hugely affect the society.
自 COVID-19 大流行开始以来，再次感染的可能性一直不太明确。虽然通过自然感染获得群体免疫具有一定的可能性，但人类冠状病毒有能力颠覆免疫力，而且季节性冠状病毒也会再次感染。目前，SARS-CoV-2 再次感染的频率尚不清楚。在这项研究中，我们旨在确定伊朗人群中 SARS-CoV-2 的再次感染率。在总共 5696 名 COVID-19 疑似个体中，应用 RT-PCR 诊断感染。确诊患者被随访 12 个月，并应用血清学检测来测量特定抗体。在 1492 例确诊的 COVID-19 病例中，有 5 人随后发生了感染。在 1 年的随访后，再次感染/再激活的发生率为 0.33%。间隔时间为 63 至 156 天。所有病例在第二次感染时均发生了病毒突变。所有病例均为有症状的中度严重程度病例。因此，估计 SARS-CoV-2 在波斯人群中的发生率很低，自然感染似乎能很好地预防再次感染，这表明大规模疫苗接种可以对社会产生巨大影响。
