COVID-19 reinfection among health care workers in a tertiary care center in north Kerala: a descriptive study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20232380Keywords:
COVID-19, Healthcare workers, ReinfectionAbstract
Background: Reinfection rates due to Covid-19 is on a rise. Prevention, identification, and management of these patients will be essential to reduce morbidity and mortality. Objective of this study was to determine the proportion of SARS COV-2 reinfection among health care workers, to determine the meantime interval between primary infection and reinfection and to compare the symptomatology during Primary infection and reinfection.
Methods: A descriptive study was conducted among healthcare workers who tested positive for COVID-19 from 1st July 2020 to 31st October 2021 which accounted for 704, of which 36 met the criteria for reinfection. Details of the health care workers who tested positive for COVID-19 was collected from regional PEID cell data base. Data was collected from study subjects using telephonic interviews. Data was analyzed using SPPSS Version 21.
Results: Out of the 704 study subjects, 36 (5.11%) met the criteria for reinfection. Mean age was 29.6±9.7 years. Of the 36 cases of reinfection, 36.1% were asymptomatic during the primary infection compared to 2.8% during the second one. Cough and fever were present in 41.7% and 83.3% respectively during reinfection compared to 11.1% and 33.3% in primary infection. Mean time interval between primary infection and reinfection was 244.6±75.6 days. During the time period between primary infection and reinfection 4 (11.1%) had symptoms.
Conclusions: Reinfection is possible in individuals who had primary infection with COVID-19. Reinfection can be symptomatically more severe. So regardless of history of infection with COVID-19 all individuals must strictly adhere to Covid protocol.
References
Fergie J, Srivastava A. Immunity to SARS-CoV-2: lessons learned. Front Immunol. 2021;12:654165.
Costa AO, Neto HD, Nunes AP, de Castro RD, de Almeida RN. COVID-19: Is reinfection possible? EXCLI J. 2021;20:522.
Jain R, Mallya MV, Amoncar S, Palyekar S, Adsul HP, Kumar R, et al. Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among potential convalescent plasma donors and analysis of their deferral pattern: Experience from tertiary care hospital in western India. Transf Clini Biolo. 2022;29(1):60-4.
Khoshkam Z, Aftabi Y, Stenvinkel P, Lawrence BP, Rezaei MH, Ichihara G, et al. Recovery scenario and immunity in COVID-19 disease: A new strategy to predict the potential of reinfection. J Advan Res. 2021;31:49-60.
Murchu E, Byrne P, Carty PG, De Gascun C, Keogan M, O'Neill M, et al. Quantifying the risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection over time. Rev Med Virol. 2022;32(1):e2260.
CDC. Common Investigation Protocol for Investigating Suspected SARS-CoV-2 Reinfection. Atlanta, USA, 2020. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/reinfection.html. Accessed 3 November 2021.
Cohen C, Pulliam J. COVID-19 infection, reinfection, and the transition to endemicity. Lancet. 2023;401(10379):798-800.
Jain VK, Iyengar K, Garg R, Vaishya R. Elucidating reasons of COVID-19 re-infection and its management strategies. Diab Metab Synd: Clin Res Revi. 2021;15(3):1001-6.
Mukherjee A, Anand T, Agarwal A, Singh H, Chatterjee P, Narayan J, et al. SARS-CoV-2 re-infection: development of an epidemiological definition from India. Epidemiol Infect. 2021;149:E8.
Sheehan MM, Reddy AJ, Rothberg MB. Reinfection rates among patients who previously tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019: a retrospective cohort study. Clin Infect Dis. 2021;73(10):1882-6.
Akinbami LJ, Biggerstaff BJ, Chan PA, McGibbon E, Pathela P, Petersen LR. Reinfection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 among previously infected healthcare personnel and first responders. Clin Infect Dis. 2022;75(1):e201-7.
Slezak J, Bruxvoort K, Fischer H, Broder B, Ackerson B, Tartof S. Rate and severity of suspected SARS-Cov-2 reinfection in a cohort of PCR-positive COVID-19 patients. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2021;27(12):1860-e7.
Dhillon RA, Qamar MA, Gilani JA, Irfan O, Waqar U, Sajid MI, et al. The mystery of COVID-19 reinfections: A global systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Med Surg (Lond). 2021;72:103130.
Islam MZ, Riaz BK, Akbar Ashrafi SA, Farjana S, Efa SS, Khan MA. Severity of COVID-19 reinfection and associated risk factors: findings of a cross-sectional study in Bangladesh. medRxiv. 2022:2021-12.
Wang J, Kaperak C, Sato T, Sakuraba A. COVID-19 reinfection: a rapid systematic review of case reports and case series. J Investig Med. 2021;69(6):1253-5.
World Health Organization. Statement on the second meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). Geneva: WHO; 2020. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/30-01-2020-statement-on-the-second-meeting-of-the-international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee-regarding-the-outbreak-of-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov). Accessed on 6 May 2023.
