Kullmann T, Drozgyik A. Reinfection, recontamination and revaccination for SARS-CoV-2. World J Methodol 2022; 12(4): 258-263 [PMID: 36159102 DOI: 10.5662/wjm.v12.i4.258]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Tamás Kullmann, PhD, Consultant Physician-Scientist, Department of Medical Emergencies, Petz Aladár Hospital, Vasvári Pál u. 2-4, Győr 9024, Hungary. kullmanndoki@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Infectious Diseases
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Methodol. Jul 20, 2022; 12(4): 258-263 Published online Jul 20, 2022. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v12.i4.258
Reinfection, recontamination and revaccination for SARS-CoV-2
Tamás Kullmann, András Drozgyik
Tamás Kullmann, Department of Medical Emergencies, Petz Aladár Hospital, Győr 9024, Hungary
András Drozgyik, Department of Surgery, Petz Aladár Hospital, Győr 9024, Hungary
Author contributions: Kullmann T and Drozgyik A contributed equally to this minireview.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare having no conflict of interest related to the publication of this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Tamás Kullmann, PhD, Consultant Physician-Scientist, Department of Medical Emergencies, Petz Aladár Hospital, Vasvári Pál u. 2-4, Győr 9024, Hungary. kullmanndoki@gmail.com
Received: March 7, 2022 Peer-review started: March 7, 2022 First decision: April 12, 2022 Revised: April 22, 2022 Accepted: July 11, 2022 Article in press: July 11, 2022 Published online: July 20, 2022 Processing time: 134 Days and 17.7 Hours
Abstract
The reports on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) describe the pandemic in waves. Similar to the ocean’s waves, the frequency and amplitude of the number of new cases and the number of deaths were globally quite regular; nevertheless, they showed important regional irregularities and the direction of spread has been generally rather unpredictable for COVID-19. One of the major reasons for the repeated outbreaks is the mutating capacity of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that allows the virus to infect persons who have natural immunity or have been vaccinated. Vaccination began in vast campaigns from the second year of the pandemic that was supposed to decrease the magnitude of the waves. Although it reduced the complications, the expected attenuation of the disease expansion has not yet been met. This paper provides a short overview of the most recent data on the rate of reinfection in vaccinated and non-vaccinated individuals. It points out that testing positive for a second time for SARS-CoV-2 does not necessarily mean a reinfection; it can also be interpreted as recontamination. The symptom free outcome as well as the rapid reconversion of the polymerase chain reaction test may help to determine the difference between reinfection and recontamination. Awareness of this phenomenon may be valuable in times of human resource difficulties. The available evidence may suggest that the protective value of a prior infection could be better considered for vaccine distribution in the future.
Core Tip: Reinfection: There is not enough evidence of the protective efficacy of the natural immunity induced by a primary infection with severe acute coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Recontamination: Testing positive for a second time for SARS-CoV-2 does not necessarily mean a reinfection; it can also be interpreted as recontamination. Revaccination: The available evidence may suggest that the protective value of a prior infection could be better considered for vaccine distribution in the future.
