January 25, 2021

SARS-CoV-2 Reinfection in a Cohort of 43,000 Antibody-Positive Individuals Followed for up to 35 Weeks

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Vaccines and Immunity

Keywords (Tags): immunity

[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A study of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection in Qatar found that reinfection was rare, and that natural infection elicited strong antibody response with at least 90% efficacy lasting at least 7 months. Among study participants (n = 314) with at least one PCR positive swab ≥14 days after the first-positive antibody test, 129 (41.1%) had supporting epidemiological evidence for reinfection. Reinfection risk was estimated to be 0.10%, and reinfection incidence was estimated to be 0.66 per 10,000 person-weeks. Most reinfections (66.7%) were diagnosed incidentally through random or routine testing or through contact tracing and tended to be less severe than the initial infection.

Abu-Raddad et al. (Jan 15, 2021). SARS-CoV-2 Reinfection in a Cohort of 43,000 Antibody-Positive Individuals Followed for up to 35 Weeks. Pre-print downloaded Jan 25 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.15.21249731