There are several Covid strains that we now know of from Alpha to Beta with another one being Omicron.
As well as keeping up-to-date with the latest variants, people are also keeping an eye on symptoms with the main three such as a new and continuous cough, still at the top of the list.
But now it's feared that one of the latest strains is said to be capable of re-infecting patients within weeks of them recovering from the virus.
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According to the Mirror, BA.5 has become the new dominant infection in several countries all over the globe with med having long found those who are infected with Covid then have a level of immunity in the weeks afterwards. However one specific strain, BA.5, has cast doubt on this with patients reporting falling positive again within a short while of recovering from Covid.
Andrew Roberston, chief health officer in Western Australia, told News.com.au: “What we are seeing is an increasing number of people who have been infected with BA.2 and then becoming infected after four weeks. So maybe six to eight weeks they are developing a second infection, and that’s almost certainly BA.4 or BA.5.”
Immunology professor Danny Altmann, author of a recent paper on the strain wrote in the Guardian how Omicron infections were a “poor booster” of immunities to other Omicron infections.
He added: “Most people – even when triple-vaccinated – had 20 times less neutralising antibody response against Omicron than against the initial ‘Wuhan’ strain. Omicron infection was a poor booster of immunity to further Omicron infections”.
“It is a kind of stealth virus that gets in under the radar, even having had Omicron, we’re not well protected from further infections.”
Earlier this week scientists said the return of a 10-day Covid-19 self-isolation period could be worthwhile in a bid to protect the NHS from an expected winter surge. They are also calling for a return of the requirement to record two negative lateral flow tests before leaving self isolation between days five and ten.
It comes as a Lancet study confirmed for the first time that two thirds of people who catch the virus are still contagious to some extent after five days.
Detailed daily tests were conducted from when people were exposed to the virus to look at how much virus they were shedding throughout their infection with the study, led by Imperial College London, said to be the first to reveal just how long the infectious period lasts within the community after contracting the virus.
The findings indicate that lateral flow tests (LFT) do not reliably detect the start of infectiousness however they can still be used to safely shorten self-isolation. Because of the findings, researchers are recommending that those with the virus isolate for five days after symptoms begin and do lateral flow tests from the sixth day.
If the tests are negative two days in a row, it is safe to leave isolation however if someone continues to test positive, they should isolate while testing positive but may leave isolation 10 days after their symptoms began.
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