(Image source from: corporate.cyrilamarchandblogs.com)

A 27-year-old woman has been found positive for the coronavirus after treatment and discharge in Bengaluru on Sunday.

In what could be the first case of re-infection in Karnataka, a 27-year-old woman has been found positive for COVID-19 after her treatment and discharge at a private hospital in Bengaluru on Sunday.

Fortis hospital in Bengaluru has reported the first case of COVID-19 reinfection. However, the state government did not confirm the case as a reinfection.

Om Prakash Patil, Director, Health and Family Services, told the media that they will seek information from the district.

The woman, who does not have any comorbidities fell victim to the coronavirus for the first time in July with mild symptoms of cough and fever. After the treatment, she was recovered and then discharged.

However, in the span of one month, she has developed symptoms for the virus again and has confirmed to have a COVID-19 infection again.

According to Pratik Patil, a consultant for the infectious diseases in the hospital, COVID-19 immunoglobin G antibodies test positive after two to three weeks of infection in the normal cases.

However, for this patient, the antibody tested negative which means she did not develop immunity after her first infection. Another possibility is that the IgG antibodies disappeared in nearly one month leaving her susceptible to the infection again.

According to the doctor, some reinfection cases may not produce antibodies and even if they develop, they may not last longer which allows the virus to enter the body again for a new infection.

Karnataka has been consistently registering daily COVID-19 infections in the range of 7000 to 9000 cases. On Saturday, the state has registered 9746 more COVID-19 cases, raising the country’s tally to 3.89 lakh.

The majority of the cases in the southern state of Karnataka has been concentrated in the Bengaluru Urban district which has 1.44 lakh cases out of which 41,000 cases are active as of now.

Earlier, HongKong has become the first country to report a case of re-infection in a person after 3 months of contracting the virus for the first time. The re-infection cases being reported raises the questions on vaccine development and their authenticity now.

It is yet to know when the world will get the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, however, the World Health Organization is expecting the first dose of widespread vaccine by mid-2021.

Also Read: WHO update on COVID-19 vaccine

India is already working on 3 vaccines which are at different stages of human trials and the health minister of the country expects the intensity of the virus in the country to come down by Diwali 2020

By Gayatri Yellayi