IRD, AP-HM, SSA, VITROME, Aix Marseille University, Marseille, France.
IHU-Méditerranée Infection, Marseille, France.
Emerg Microbes Infect. 2022 Dec;11(1):894-901. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2022.2052358.
SARS-CoV-2 reinfection rate is low. The relative severity of the first and second episodes of infection remains poorly studied. In this study, we aimed at assessing the frequency of SARS-CoV-2 reinfections and comparing the severity of the first and second episodes of infection. We retrospectively included patients with SARS-CoV-2 positive RT-PCR at least 90 days after clinical recovery from a COVID-19 episode and with at least one negative RT-PCR after the first infection. Whole genome sequencing and variant-specific RT-PCR were performed and clinical symptoms and severity of infection were retrospectively documented from medical files. A total of 209 COVID-19 reinfected patients were identified, accounting for 0.4% of positive cases diagnosed from 19 March 2020 to 24 August 2021. Serology was performed in 64 patients, of whom 39 (60.1%) had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 when sampled at the early stage of their second infection. Only seven patients (3.4%) were infected twice with the same variant. We observed no differences in clinical presentation, hospitalization rate, and transfer to ICU when comparing the two episodes of infections. Our results suggest that the severity of the second episode of COVID-19 is in the same range as that of the first infection, including patients with antibodies.
SARS-CoV-2 再感染率较低。首次和第二次感染的相对严重程度仍研究不足。在这项研究中，我们旨在评估 SARS-CoV-2 再感染的频率，并比较感染的首次和第二次发作的严重程度。我们回顾性纳入了至少在 COVID-19 发作后临床康复 90 天以上且在首次感染后至少有一次 RT-PCR 阴性的 SARS-CoV-2 阳性 RT-PCR 患者。进行了全基因组测序和变异特异性 RT-PCR，并从病历中回顾性记录了临床症状和感染严重程度。共确定了 209 例 COVID-19 再感染患者，占 2020 年 3 月 19 日至 2021 年 8 月 24 日期间诊断出的阳性病例的 0.4%。对 64 例患者进行了血清学检查，其中 39 例（60.1%）在第二次感染早期采样时具有针对 SARS-CoV-2 的抗体。只有 7 例患者（3.4%）两次感染同一变体。我们在比较两次感染时，在临床表现、住院率和转入 ICU 方面未观察到差异。我们的结果表明，COVID-19 第二次发作的严重程度与第一次感染相同，包括具有抗体的患者。
