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INDIA-VIRUS-REINFECTION
India’s southern city reports 1st re-infection case of COVID-19
MUMBAI, Sept 7, 2020 (BSS/XINHUA) – India’s Southern city of Bengaluru has reported its first re-infection case of COVID-19 after a 27-year-old woman discharged in July was confirmed to have been reinfected with the virus, a statement by a local private hospital said Monday.
“Normally, in case of infection, the Covid Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody is tested positive after 2-3 weeks of infection, however in this patient, the antibody has been tested negative, which means she did not develop immunity after infection,” said Dr Pratik Patil, a consultant of infectious diseases with the Fortis Hospital, a leading private hospital chain in India.
The relapse comes at a time when Bengaluru, the information technology hub of India, has 41,453 active cases with 2,128 deaths reported so far.
Another possibility is that the IgG antibodies disappeared in nearly one month leaving her susceptible for reinfection, Dr. Patil said.
Such cases indicate that the antibodies are not developed to last long enough and allows the virus to enter the body and cause the disease again, the doctor said.
In July, there was a case of recurrence of COVID-19 in Delhi and few more cases of relapse were detected in the Eastern state of West Bengal.
India ranks second after the United States for the total number of cases of COVID-19 with 882,542 active cases and 71,642 deaths reported so far.
BSS/XINHUA/SSS/1800 hrs