The issue of immunity still raises doubts in the scientific community but scientists at the Center for Disease Prevention and Control in South Korea just published his conclusions about whether or not we can be infected a second time with this new coronavirus and the conclusion is a sign of hope: no, we cannot. At least not until the virus mutates significantly.
After more than 200 patients who had already been ill have tested positive for covid-19 again, both in South Korea and in China and Japan, the world has been on the alert but genetic analyzes conducted by this institute prove that the virus has not yet mutated enough to re-infect someone who has already suffered from the disease.
Scientists believe that the positive results are due to flaws in the test system because the method used to detect the coronavirus, called Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), is unable to distinguish between genetic material from a still infectious virus and fragments of “dead” viruses that can remain in the body long after a person has recovered. The small remnants of viruses that these cured people would still have in their systems are not enough to infect others or make the carrier sick again.
The explanation was revealed at a press conference by Oh Myoung-don, a doctor at Seoul National University Hospital, after several journalists pressured the government in recent weeks to reveal what studies were being done to people who had been tested positive. already after healing.
As the same expert explained, quoted by the Korea Herald, “the process by which this virus reproduces occurs only in host cells and does not infiltrate the nucleus”. Some viruses, such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or the varicella virus, “can integrate with the patient’s genetics because they enter the nucleus of human cells, where they can remain latent for years and then“ wake up ”but the coronavirus is not one of those viruses ”, confirmed Oh Myoung-don.
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