Brazil confirms its first case of coronavirus reinfection

The Health Ministry confirmed on Thursday the first case of reinfection by coronavirus in Brazil.

She is a 37-year-old health professional living in Natal (northeast) who contracted the disease in June, was cured and had a positive result again in October.

Between one diagnosis and another there were 116 days of difference.

A genetic analysis carried out by Fiocruz, the national reference for covid-19 in Brazil, confirmed reinfection and identified different strains of the virus at both times of infection.

Eight other suspected new covid-19 infections were reported in Rio Grande do Norte.

Five are under investigation and three are "unviable for analysis," according to the Secretary of State for Public Health.

The infected professional worked in Natal and Paraíba, where the first test for the disease was carried out on June 17 after presenting symptoms such as headache, abdominal pain and nasal congestion.

On October 11, she again suffered flu symptoms, this time with alterations in smell and taste, and was subjected to a new test, which also gave a positive result.

On both occasions, the test carried out was PCR, which detects the presence of ribonucleic acid (RNA) from the virus from the analysis of secretions.

In other countries, episodes of contagion from people who had already overcome the virus have been detected, but they are considered rare.

The first confirmation occurred on August 24 in Hong Kong.

In South America, Ecuador was the first country to report a similar case: a 46-year-old man who was diagnosed with Covid-19 in May and returned with more severe symptoms in August.

In both countries, different strains of SARS-CoV-2 were identified between one infection and another in the same patient.

The cases indicate that the immunity generated by contact with the virus does not prevent subsequent infections.

In any case, they confirm the importance of vaccines, which are already beginning to be applied to risk groups in some parts of the world.

Brazil has 6.7 million positive cases of coronavirus, with almost 180,000 deaths, which places it third in the world in number of infections and the second in deaths.

The country has recorded around 50,000 new infections per day.

The government of Jair Bolsonaro has been asked to present a national vaccination plan against the disease, but has not yet presented any clear strategy.

According to a report by EL PAÍS published on Wednesday, after announcing his intention to begin immunization in March, Eduardo Pazuello, the Minister of Health, considered it "likely" that vaccination in Brazil would begin "between January and February."

He even raised the possibility of starting small-scale vaccination as early as December, if the immunizer Pfizer, which is already applied in the United Kingdom and which the Brazilian government is negotiating to acquire, obtains the emergency registration in the country.

Information about the coronavirus

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- Guide to action against the disease

- In case of symptoms, these are the telephones that have been enabled in each Latin American country.