Infections with covid bring with them the possibility of high temperature, dry cough and loss of smell and taste. However, even a few months after recovery, there is a risk of developing long-term covid or ‘catching’ the virus again. This virus is really good at avoiding the immune system, so it is possible to get infected with it multiple times, sometimes within just 90 days.
Those re-infections turned out to be risky, according to the results of a new study published in the journal Nature Biology. Research by a team from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health System. Louis showed that repeated infections with the virus contribute significant additional risk to multiple organ systems in the body, he reports Popular Science.
Some of the risks include hospitalization, lung, heart and brain problems, musculoskeletal and gastrointestinal problems and even death. Re-infection with covid-19, according to new research, also contributes to the development of chronic diseases such as diabetes and kidney disease, as well as mental health problems.
“During the past few months, there has been a feeling of invincibility among people who have had covid-19 or their vaccinations and booster shots, and especially among people who have had the infection and received vaccines. Some people have started talking about these individuals as having some kind of super-immunity to the virus,” said the lead author Ziyad Al-Aly, clinical epidemiologist from Washington University in St. Louis. “Without equivocation, our research shows that getting infected a second, third or fourth time contributes to additional health risks in the acute phase, meaning the first 30 days after infection, and in the months after that, meaning the long phase of covid.”
The study found that people with re-infections of covid-19 were twice as likely to die in the observation period and three times more likely to be hospitalized than those who were not re-infected with the virus. People with repeated infections were also three and a half times more likely to develop lung problems, three times more likely to suffer from heart problems and 1.6 times more likely to experience brain problems than patients who had been infected with the virus once .
The study also showed that the risk increases with each infection with the virus, so it is better to avoid repeat infections, according to Al-Aly.
“People should do everything they can to prevent re-infections. By wearing a mask, for example, getting all the vaccines, staying home when they are sick… Also, get the flu shot to prevent illness. We have to do everything we can to reduce the possibility that we will have a double epidemic of both covid and flu this winter season.”
Researchers studied nearly 5.8 million anonymized medical records from a database maintained by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The VA is the nation’s largest integrated health care system, and patients in the sample represented multiple genders, races, and ages. For comparison, they created a controlled data set of 5.3 million people who did not test positive for covid-19 infection from March 1, 2020 (when the pandemic began in the US) to April 6, 2022.
Using the same time frame, the researchers compiled a control group of more than 443,000 people who tested positive for one covid-19 infection and another group of nearly 41,000 people who had two or more documented infections. Those who reported multiple infections primarily had two or three infections, with a small number showing four infections. No one in the study experienced five or more covid-19 infections.
The team used statistical modeling to examine the health risks of repeated infections within the first 30 days after contracting the virus and up to six months after infection. The study included covid-19 variants such as delta, omicron and BA.5, and negative outcomes occurred in the unvaccinated as well as those who received the vaccine before re-infection.
“Our findings have broad implications for public health because they tell us that strategies to prevent or reduce the risk of re-infection should be implemented,” Al-Aly said. “Entering the winter season, people should be aware of the risks and be careful to reduce the risk of infection or re-infection with covid-19.”
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