A 31-year-old health worker from Spain caught Covid twice within a record 20 days, in what is believed to be the shortest-known gap between infections, researchers have claimed.
The woman from Madrid was infected with two different variants—Delta in late December and Omicron in January, BBC reported citing the Spanish scientists.
The woman was fully vaccinated and even took a booster shot. Despite all the protection, the woman tested positive during a PCR screening test at work on December 20 last year.
However, she didn’t develop any symptoms, and self-isolated for 10 days before returning to work.
But 20 days after the first test, the woman took a PCR test again on January 10 after feeling unwell. That test report also turned out to be positive.
In a presentation at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, study author Dr Gemma Recio said the case highlighted that Omicron can “evade the previous immunity acquired either from a natural infection with other variants or from vaccines”.
“In other words, people who have had COVID-19 cannot assume they are protected against reinfection, even if they have been fully vaccinated,” she said.
“Nevertheless, both previous infection with other variants and vaccination does seem to partially protect against severe disease and hospitalisation in those with Omicron,” added Dr Recio.
Also read | WHO tracks two new Omicron subvariants: What are BA.4 and BA.5 strains?
She said monitoring reinfections in people who were fully vaccinated was important, and would help the search for variants which evade vaccines.
The Omicron variant of the Covid variant has been found to be evading immunity from past infection or two vaccine doses.
Also read |: Omicron variant originated from mice, say Chinese scientists
According to a study by the Imperial College of London, the risk of reinfection with the Omicron variant is 5.4 times greater than that of the Delta variant.
Watch | Study: Omicron is less severe than Delta & recovery is 3.3 days quicker
(With inputs from agencies)
