Can a person who has been cured of the Coronavirus be infected?

Osama Abu Al-Rub

Is it possible to communicate with a person who was infected with the emerging coronavirus (Covid-19) after recovery? Does healing from the Corona virus mean that a person is no longer a source of infection with the virus and does not pose a threat to the people surrounding it?

Scientists are still trying to understand the mechanism of the spread of the virus, which emerged in Wuhan, China last December, and spread to several other countries, and more than 95 thousand cases were recorded globally, and more than 3,200 deaths.

Much research has been done, including a small study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), that involved four medical workers aged 30 to 36 who were infected with the Corona virus and treated in Zhongnan Hospital at Wuhan University in China.

All four recovered, only one was hospitalized during illness, and patients were treated with Tamiflu antiviral drug.

According to the study, and for other scientific data, the course of placing the virus in the person's body can be summarized as follows:

1- After a person is infected with and recovering from corona (this means that the symptoms disappear and a negative result is obtained by testing the presence of Covid-19 virus in the person), the person may remain a carrier for at least two weeks.

2- The absence of the virus in the test does not mean that the body is free of it, as it may be at a low level that the test cannot detect.

3- Having a low concentration of the virus in the body means that it may not be able to cause damage to cells, so the symptoms disappear.

4- During the period of the virus present in the body of the recovering person, the person may transmit it to another person, but this possibility is minimal because the amount of viruses in the body of the recovering person is small, and because the person does not have symptoms, i.e. he does not sneeze or cough, and therefore the possibility of spreading the spray that may carry The virus.

5- However, a person who is newly recovered from the virus may pass the virus to another person if it is closely mixed with it, such as sharing drinks and food.

6- Scientists are still searching about if it is possible after a week or two that the level of the Corona virus in a person recovering in blood or lungs rises to a higher concentration, so that it can transfer the virus to the surrounding people easily.

7 - It is possible for a person recovering from corona to become infected with the virus again after his recovery, according to the New York Times, where the Japanese government reported that a woman in the city of Osaka had the results to confirm her infection with the corona virus for the second time after weeks of recovering from infection and discharging her from a hospital.

At the beginning, the Japanese woman showed symptoms of a mild infection with the Coronavirus, and in late January she underwent a medical examination. The result was positive, and she was discharged from hospital on February 1.

However, a new examination, which she later underwent when she came to the hospital complaining of sore throat and back pain, demonstrated that the infection with the Coronavirus came back again.

Florian Kramer, a virologist at Mount Sinai Medical School (a faculty of medicine teaching in New York), says it is unlikely that the infection will recur in a short time, but he still does not rule out its recurrence again.

He adds that even in the slightest cases, the person who has recovered will enjoy immunity to the virus for at least a short period of time.

Conclusion
If you know someone who has been infected with the Corona virus and recovered from it, you should consult your doctor first to find out what procedures to recommend, and you should avoid close contact with the person who has recovered, such as not sharing food and drink.

Also, for a person who has recovered from corona, he must adhere to the doctor's instructions, and personal hygiene guidelines, such as washing hands, covering the mouth and nose during sneezing and coughing, and not using impersonal tools such as clothes, bedding, and utensils.

New data
And animal health experts in Hong Kong said on Wednesday that a dog that is subject to quarantine and owned by a person infected with the virus may be the first case of transmission of the disease from human to animal, but they made clear that the matter is still under discussion.

The dog has not yet had any symptoms. Experts looking at the case said that pet owners should not feel very worried, or abandon their animals.

The WHO website says that there is no evidence yet that pets may be infected with Corona virus from their owners.

Toilets
A recent study also showed that people with the Corona virus pollute their bedrooms and bathrooms significantly, which shows the need to clean surfaces such as hand wash basins and toilets regularly.

The virus can be eliminated by cleaning contaminated surfaces with antiseptic twice a day, as concluded by the study published in the Journal of Gamma.

The study, conducted by researchers from the National Center for Infectious Diseases in Singapore and "DSO" national laboratories, started after the outbreak of the Coronavirus in some Chinese hospitals, and the matter prompted scientists to believe that in addition to coughing, environmental pollution was an important factor in the transmission of the disease.