How can physicians distinguish between COVID-19 persistence and SARS-CoV-2 reinfection?
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The presence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in individuals who contracted COVID-19 has been well documented.
Research suggests that in the majority of cases, anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies can persist for six months or more in those who recover from COVID-19. However, reinfection has also be observed in many individuals across all age groups. Further, the severity of the infection was also found to vary across cases.
With regard to SARS-CoV-2 reinfection cases, not many studies are available on viral characteristics, degree of sequence heterogeneity, and the point of mutation. The location of the mutation point can be determined by comparing the reference sequence with the reinfecting variants. Physicians are encountering an increase in the number of cases associated with disea