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No confirmed case of re-infection in State yet: Govt

By Rituraj Borthakur

GUWAHATI, Sept 21 - There has been no confirmed case of COVID-19 re-infection in the State so far. �There have been some reports of late, but till date we have no clinical data to confirm it (re-infection). We are still to get any authorized data to substantiate the reports,� Principal Secretary (Health) Samir Sinha told The Assam Tribune. He, however, said Director of Medical Education (DME) has been asked to study the suspected cases and give a report to the government.

There have been claims from some recovered patients that they have been infected for the second time, in some cases around two months after they had tested positive for the first time. When contacted, DME Dr Anup Kumar Barman too said there had been few such cases, but they are �doubtful.� �It is not yet clear if the patients have been re-infected or if the tests are giving positive results due to presence of dead virus strains in the body,� Barman said, adding that medical teams are looking into the incidences.

Health officials said patients testing positive for a long time could be due to delayed remission of the disease.

Scientists have found that coronavirus patients who remain positive weeks after diagnosis may harbour dead virus particles that can�t be distinguished from infectious ones in standard tests.

The so-called SARS-CoV-2 virus dies one-to-two weeks after infecting and proliferating inside respiratory cells, but pieces of the virus�s genetic material, or RNA, may remain in cells and be detected by a nucleic acid test a month or two after infection.

Fear of COVID-19 re-infection has emerged in many countries, including India, but there isn�t any sufficient evidence on it.

Taking note of instances of suspected Covid-19 re-infection reported from Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, Delhi and Maharashtra, the Union Health Ministry is considering gathering data of such cases to ascertain their veracity. It needs to be confirmed whether the suspected cases of re-infection are indeed distinct second infection and not just lingering effects of the first one. This can be done by genetic sequence analysis to see if it is the same strain of virus which had caused the first infection or a different one.

Lahowal based ICMR-RMRC is investigating six such cases.

�The patients tested positive again one-and-half months to two months after the first infection. Even though we are investigating and it might take around a month to confirm it, we do not feel they are cases of re-infection. It could be that first time they were false positive,� sources at RMRC said.

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