Recurrence of Covid-19 infections.

Abstract

Until the end of 2019, Covid-19 was an unknown virus. Its emergence and rapid expansion surprised the international medical community. Beyond the ease of contagion and its potential severity, the growing number of patients who, after being discharged, relapse and sometimes die, is causing significant concern. To this date, six confirmed cases of reinfection have been registered worldwide. It is a minimum number in the universe of infected people. However, is the immunity against reinfection temporary? Should we be concerned as long as the immune mechanisms are largely unknown? In order to answer these questions, we present this review with aiming to analyze the recurrence of Covid-19 infections. Between October 20th and 27th, 2020, and March 1st and 3rd, 2021, a bibliographic review was carried out through the Google search engine in the databases Pubmed / Medline, Scielo, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, official and specialized sites. The following descriptors were applied as inclusion criteria: Covid-19, immunity, relapse, reinfection, Covid-19 in Argentina. In the framework of the review, the main findings were: 1) the scientific evidence is insufficient to affirm that a discharged patient has a high chance of being reinfected with Covid-19; 2) immunity against reinfection is temporary; and 3) given the possibility of recurrence and the lack of conclusive evidence on immunological response, it should still be recommended to maintain basic prevention and biosafety measures.