COVID 2 times: Symptoms of difficult-to-predict Omicron reinfection

More than three months after being infected with COVID-19 in mid-December, Regan James said he felt with his wife and children the familiar cough, stuffy nose, and malaise again. ..

“The symptoms that occurred in March were the same, but not so serious … it was COVID,” he told CTV News.ca on Tuesday. “I first got sick on Sunday. By next Friday, I’m feeling much better.”

Due to the similarities in symptoms experienced in December and March, 40-year-old James believed that he and his family had re-infected COVID-19, and a positive result using a rapid antigen test showed that this was the case. He said he confirmed.James said he and his family could not confirm the infected COVID-19 strain, but both infections Omicron variants were established In their hometown of Ontario and other parts of Canada.

The family was experiencing Common COVID-19 symptoms Occasional cough, sinus compression, stuffy nose, malaise, headache, etc. According to James, the main difference was that the symptoms experienced in December were more severe than in March. In addition, James, who was double vaccinated at the time of both infections, said the symptoms from the first infection lasted much longer and disappeared after about 11 days.

“It kept trying to make a comeback, so I felt really good and started thinking,” Great, I’m out for the race, “and suddenly that night the pressure on my head came back. [and] The pressure in my sinuses will come back, “James said.

According to James, in December he and his family were unable to undergo a rapid antigen test until about two weeks after the onset of symptoms, by which time the results had returned to negative. However, contacting a friend who was still positive at the time was a good confirmation that James and his family were infected with COVID-19.

Interestingly, according to James, his 16-year-old twin daughters, who were not vaccinated at the time of the initial infection, both had different experiences with the disease. One daughter had symptoms similar to James, but the other daughter sailed with only a headache, he said. At the time of reinfection, her daughter’s symptoms were also milder, James said.

Based on his experience, James said he expects that if he is infected with COVID-19 three times, his symptoms will continue to be mild compared to his previous infection.

“I’ve experienced it twice because of the different severity of the symptoms … the fear of catching it again has been greatly reduced. I’m not worried at this point,” James said.

Does Omicron reinfection cause mild illness?

However, experts should be aware of this idea.

Currently, there is little evidence to suggest that the reinfection of COVID-19 is more severe or milder than the initial infection of the disease, but Dr. Dale Carina, an infectious disease doctor at Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington, Ontario, said he. The variety of symptoms that patients are experiencing with both the first and second infections. As a result, he said, reinfection is not always guaranteed to show a milder course of illness.

“There isn’t much evidence from what I’ve seen about comparing the first infection to the second infection beyond the anecdote,” he told CTV News.ca in a telephone interview Tuesday. “Initially, we hoped that people could never get infected, but now we know it’s not true.”

Recent public health data is 10 percent of Canadians People recently infected with the Omicron BA.2 subvariant were previously infected with COVID-19.Not all states provide data on reinfection rates, but Ontario health officials say 11,370 reported I have been infected with Omicron twice since November 1, 2020.

According to a report released by the National Institute of Public Health in Quebec in January, the state is 32 reinfections for every 1,000 initial infectionsSince May 2020, nearly 9,000 people are suspected of being re-infected with COVID-19.

Evidence suggests that reinfection with the Omicron mutant is likely to result. Courses that can be managed at home For those who are vaccinated, Dr. Lisa Barrett, an infectious disease specialist and professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, said. However, it is still possible that these people will experience severe seizures of COVID-19 during subsequent infections, she said.

“Most of the information currently available does not indicate that in the case of Omicron, most people will have a worse reinfection,” Barrett told CTV News.ca in a telephone interview Tuesday. “But there are various illnesses. I don’t bet the lowest money that my reinfection will be milder.”

According to Barrett, genetics suggests that the response to infection and reinfection is likely to vary from person to person. It’s also important to remember that vaccination and previous infections do not prevent anyone from being infected with COVID-19 again, she said.

“You develop defensive immunity, [but] It’s not about killing immunity, “Barrett said.

Some illnesses, such as malaria, become less severe with each infection, but illnesses such as dengue fever can be even more severe, depending on the strain, Karina said. However, none of these trends have been reported in relation to COVID-19, he said.

“Just as it is very difficult to predict how people will be with the first infection, it will be difficult to predict how they will react with the second infection,” says Kalina. I did.

Also, regardless of whether a person has been infected with COVID-19 once or twice. Factors that indicate increased risk The consequences of serious COVID-19 remain the same, Karina said. This includes underlying health conditions such as old age and diabetes.

“These are the same risk factors that can lead to subsequent infections, as well as any damage that may have occurred in the first bout of illness that you may have suffered,” Karina said.

Another factor to consider is whether a person has been vaccinated against COVID-19 and how long ago he was last dosed, Barrett said. According to experts, it is unlikely that you will be re-infected with the same strain of COVID-19 within 3-4 months after vaccination, but it is not impossible, Karina said.

“In medicine, there are no sayings, things happen, and each person is different, so I never speak,” Karina said. “If you start a particularly strong immune response [after vaccination or previous infection] That way, you don’t know how quickly you can re-infect or what the severity of your illness will be. That is, of course, why we put so much emphasis on prevention. “

This is why it is important to manage existing comorbidities and be vaccinated based on current guidelines and eligibility. He also advises people to avoid high-risk activities such as gathering in large groups indoors and encourages Canadians to continue wearing face masks.

“Prevention is the key … because we can’t always predict how serious the disease will be,” Kalina said.

Reinfection resulting in a “completely different course”

In the case of Joan McKenzie, a Toronto woman explained that reinfection with COVID-19 was far more severe than the symptoms she experienced during her first infection a few months ago. When Mackenzie was first infected in December 2021, her symptoms included her sore throat, runny nose, back pain, body aches, and eye irritation, but she said, “It wasn’t terrible. I did, “she said. She also had no fever and did not lose her sense of taste or smell. She said she was isolated for 10 days from Christmas day.

But when Mackenzie re-infected Omicron in late March 2022, she said she faced a completely different illness.

“It started with a really painful throat, much more painful than it was at the beginning, but there were no other respiratory symptoms like a stuffy nose,” she said. “It was just extreme fatigue. I was basically in bed for 5 or 6 days.

“This time it was a completely different course.”

She could not confirm infection with either rapid antigen test or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test due to lack of access and eligibility, but her doctor told her that she was on COVID-19 at both times. He said he was likely infected. Mackenzie said she was quarantined for about eight days after the onset of symptoms.

Since then, Mackenzie has said he has slept more than before he was re-infected with COVID-19, but otherwise he has returned to normal activity and goes to the gym several times a week. She suffers from fibromyalgia, a condition that causes widespread musculoskeletal pain, but is not listed as the underlying condition of concern for the consequences of severe COVID-19. Public Health Agency of Canada Or the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.. Mackenzie received a third COVID-19 vaccine in November 2021 and will receive a fourth next week.

Mackenzie said the second infection with COVID-19 was more worrisome and showed worse symptoms. This raises concerns about what the third infection will look like, she said.

“I think the second infection was even worse in the sense that it seemed to have hit the whole body. It was more like a’system down’, not a respiratory system,” McKenzie said. .. “I’m a little worried about the next wave and the next infection … maybe the third wave.

“If the next variant is worse than this, we will face a big problem.”

With a file from the Canadian Press.

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