If you’ve had a bad bout of Covid, what are your chances of reinfection? Surprisingly low, and it could be less than 1 percent, which suggests people develop natural immunity from the virus, a new research study estimates.
And if you are unlucky enough to get a second infection, it is likely to be less severe, say researchers from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
They tracked the progress of more than 9,000 people who had suffered a severe Covid-19 infection, and just 63 of them, or 0.7 percent, had a second infection nearly four months later. The risk of a second infection was greater among non-white people.
Two of those who had a second infection died. But for most, the second infection was less severe, and there was a lower rate of pneumonia, heart failure and acute kidney injury.
(Source: Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2021; doi: 10.1093/cid/ciab345)
