At this point, there are few people who have not contracted COVID-19. I’m sure you even know many people, and even yourself, who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 repeatedly. Well, a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has revealed that contracting COVID more than once could pose a greater risk than the first infection. Specifically, they estimate that the risk of hospitalization, organ failure and even death increases significantly with reinfection compared to a first attack of the virus, regardless of vaccination status or acquired natural antibodies.
Among these possible negative effects of repeated coronavirus infections, they cite disorders that affect various organs, from the lungs, heart or brain to the blood, musculoskeletal and gastrointestinal systems of the body. Reinfection also contributes to other conditions and pathologies such as diabetes, kidney disease or mental health problems.
People with repeated infections were also three and a half times more likely to develop lung problems and three times more likely to have heart conditions than patients who had been infected with the virus once.
“Over the last few months, there has been an air of invincibility among people who have had COVID-19 or its vaccinations and boosters, and especially among people who have had an infection and also received vaccinations; some people began to refer to these people as like having a kind of superimmunity to the virus,” said lead author Ziyad Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist at the School of Medicine. “Unambiguously, our research showed that getting an infection a second, third or fourth time contributes to additional health risks in the acute phase, that is, the first 30 days after infection, and in the months after, which means the long phase of COVID”.
In fact, the author of this work clarifies that the study, published in the journal Nature Biology, indicated that the risk seems to increase with each infection. “This means that even if you have had two COVID-19 infections, it is better to avoid a third one,” Al-Aly said. “And if you’ve had three infections, it’s best to avoid the fourth.”
Increased risk of lung, heart, or brain problems when reinfected
The researchers studied nearly 5.8 million anonymous health records from a database maintained by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The VA is the nation’s largest integrated health care system, and the patients in the sample represented multiple genders, races, and ages.
To compare, they created a controlled data set of 5.3 million people who did not test positive for COVID-19 infection from March 1, 2020 (when the pandemic began in the US) to April 6, 2022. Using the same time period, the researchers compiled a control group of more than 443,000 people who had tested positive for a COVID-19 infection and another group of nearly 41,000 people who had two or more infections. documented. Those reporting multiple infections mostly had two or three infections, with a small number showing four infections. No one in the study experienced five or more COVID-19 infections.
The team used statistical modeling to examine the health risks of repeat infections within the first 30 days after contracting the virus and up to six months after infection. The study took into account COVID-19 variants such as delta, omicron and BA.5 and the negative results occurred among the unvaccinated as well as among those who had received injections of the vaccine prior to reinfection.
The study found that people with COVID-19 reinfections were twice as likely to die in the time period studied and three times as likely to be hospitalized as those who had not been reinfected with the virus. Not only that, people with repeated infections were also three and a half times more likely to develop lung problems, three times more likely to have heart conditions and 1.6 times more likely to experience brain conditions than patients who had been infected with the virus. viruses once.
Limiting exposure to the virus is especially important as we enter the winter months, with new variants emerging, mutating, and already causing a spike in infections in some parts of the world. Al-Aly notes that “people should do everything they can to prevent repeat infections by wearing masks, for example, getting all eligible boosters, staying home when sick. Also, getting a flu shot. We really need to do everything we can to reduce the possibility of having a double pandemic of COVID-19 and the flu this winter season.
The study’s author told Reuters: “The good news is that the better protected people with immunity are, the lower the risk of developing some of the complications is likely to be over time.”
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