Coronavirus – How Often Can You Get It?

The spread of the Coronavirus variation has presented scientists with a disturbing answer. It has occurred several times, sometimes within months.

Experts previously believed that protection from vaccines or past illnesses would prevent reinfections, but Omicron  has changed that.

The virus that shows no signs of going away, varieties that are skilled at evading the body’s defenses, and 
waves of infections twice, maybe three times a year, some experts believe, is the future of the Coronavirus.

Why You Can Get Reinfected With a Coronavirus?

The main issue is that the coronavirus is increasingly reinfecting humans. Those who were infected with the initial  Omicron variation are already reporting second infections with the later variants, especially in South Africa.

Researchers noted in interviews that they might have a third or fourth illness this year. A tiny percentage may experience  symptoms that last for months or years, a condition called a long Covid.

“It seems likely to me that that’s going to sort of being a long-term pattern,” said Juliet Pulliam, an epidemiologist at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

“The virus is going to keep evolving,” she added. “And there are probably going to be a lot of people getting many, many reinfections throughout their lives.”

It’s impossible to estimate how often people are reinfected. Part because many illnesses are now going undetected. 

Dr. Pulliam and her colleagues have gathered enough data in South Africa to conclude that the rate with Omicron is greater than with earlier variations.

This is not how it was intended to be. Earlier in the epidemic, doctors believed that protection from vaccines or  past infections would prevent most reinfections.

Is Everyone Exposed To Coronavirus Various Diseases?

Those expectations were crushed by the Omicron version. Unlike prior varieties, Omicron and its numerous progeny  appear to have evolved to partially avoid immunity. This makes everyone exposed to various diseases, including those who have been vaccinated several times.

“If we manage it the way that we manage it now, then most people will get infected with it at least a couple of times a year,” said Kristian Andersen, a virologist at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego. “I would be very surprised if that’s not how it’s going to play out.”

The essential usefulness of the Covid vaccines has not been affected by the new variations. If they test positive for the  coronavirus, most persons who have gotten three or even two doses will not develop unwell enough to require medical attention. A booster dosage, like a prior encounter with the virus, does appear to reduce the likelihood of reinfection, but only marginally.

At the start of the pandemic, many specialists based their predictions on influenza, the most recognized viral opponent to  them. They expected that, similar to the flu, there will be one major epidemic every year, most likely in the fall. Vaccinating individuals before it arrives is one approach to limit its spread.

Instead, the coronavirus is acting more like four closely related relatives that circulate and cause colds all year. “We noticed patients with numerous infections within the span of a year,” said Jeffrey Shaman, an epidemiologist at Columbia  University in New York, when researching common-cold coronaviruses.

If reinfection becomes the norm, the coronavirus will “not simply be this wintertime once-a-year occurrence,”  he added, “and it will not be a little nuisance in terms of the morbidity and death it causes.”

Is This Coronavirus Variant Different?

Reinfections with older varieties, including Delta, did occur, although they were uncommon. However, the rate of reinfections in South Africa appeared to go up in September and was significantly higher by November, when the Omicron variety  was detected, according to Dr. Pulliam.

Reinfections may be more visible in South Africa, as in the United States, since so many people have been inoculated or infected at least once.

“The perception magnifies what’s actually going on biologically,” Dr. Pulliam said. “It’s just that there are more people who are eligible for reinfection.”

The Omicron variant was different enough from Delta, and Delta from earlier versions of the virus, that some reinfections were to be expected. But now, Omicron seems to be evolving new forms that penetrate immune defenses with relatively few changes to its genetic code.

“This is actually for me a bit of a surprise,” said Alex Sigal, a virologist at the Africa Health Research Institute. “I thought we’ll need a kind of brand-new variant to escape from this one. But in fact, it seems like you don’t.”

When compared to prior types, Omicron infections cause a lower immune response that appears to fade soon. Although the newer variants are closely related, they differ sufficiently from an immunological standpoint that infection with one does not provide much protection against the others – at least not after three or four months.

However, most persons who are reinfected with new forms of Omicron will not get gravely sick. At the present, the virus  has not discovered a means to completely bypass the immune system.

“That’s probably as good as it gets for now,” Dr. Sigal said. “The big danger might come when the variant will be completely different.”

Conclusion

Each infection may bring with it the possibility of long Covid, the constellation of symptoms that can persist for months or years. It’s too early to know how often an Omicron infection leads to long Covid, especially in vaccinated people.

Each infection carries the risk of long Covid, a constellation of symptoms that can last for months or years. It’s too soon to tell how frequently an Omicron infection causes lengthy Covid, especially in vaccinated persons.

Other specialists believe that the Covid shots should be updated more frequently, even more frequently than flu vaccines  are each year, to keep up with the mutating virus. They claim that even a poor match to a novel variant of the coronavirus will widen immunity and provide some protection.

“Every single time we think we’re through this, every single time we think we have the upper hand, the virus pulls a trick on us,” Dr. Andersen said. “The way to get it under control is not, ‘Let’s all get infected a few times a year and then hope for the best.’”

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