Abstract
COVID-19 infection has continued to pose a very serious health threat to mankind globally despite all efforts geared toward curbing its spread. More worrisome recently is the report from different parts of the world on the re-infection of those treated and recovered with COVID -19 patients thus making containment of the virus even more difficult. Of more worrisome is the fact that the lung, a vital human organ is a major site being attacked by the virus even on re-infection cases. If quick action is not taken early enough, it may lead to the outright death of the patient. A lung infection, (Pneumonia) caused by COVID-19 has been discovered to be having a stunning effect on hospital systems and killing COVID-19 patients silently and it occurs even as the patient is asymptomatic. This paper examines the reasons for re-infection, Lacuna in the reviewed literature with regards to PCR test results, the effect of re-infection on the lungs, and implication for patients’ lung health. The papers summarized and concluded that it’s a fact that re-infection occurs among patients accompanied by mild or severe symptoms having far-reaching implications for the patient’s lung health. The paper recommends that the government at all levels should collaborate with WHO, CDC, and health policymakers to legally mandating, that every recovered patient should stay an additional 2weeks in the hospital for early detection of re-infection in order to avert any invasion and damage to the lungs thus ensuring lung health. Also, proper health education should be availed to the recovered patients to avoid any exposures or habits (different from the index disease) such as smoking that can pose dangers to the already fatigued lungs.
Highlights
The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak, which started in the Hubei province of China in December 2019, has become a major public health challenge for China and countries around the world
Of more worrisome is the fact that the lung, a vital human organ is a major site being attacked by the virus even on re-infection cases
This paper examines the reasons for re-infection, Lacuna in the reviewed literature with regards to Polymeras chain reaction (PCR) test results, the effect of re-infection on the lungs, and implication for patients’ lung health
Summary
The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak, which started in the Hubei province of China in December 2019, has become a major public health challenge for China and countries around the world. Studies have reported that over 163 recovered COVID-19 patients in Korea who on recovery tested positive once again as revealed by Korean Center for disease control (KCDC) (Hancocks, Seo, & Hollingsworth, 2020) Another studies observed patients who on seemingly recovery from COVID-19 tested positive to the virus, one hundred and eleven (111) of such cases were cited by South Korean Officials (Leung, 2020). The study showed that a third of recovered patients in China had low levels of antibodies with only ten of the patients having no detectable antibody to neutralize the virus This raises a lot of concern because when the recovered patients fail to develop high-level immunity to ward off re-infection, it could adversely affect herd immunity needed to stop the wider spread.
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