israel

Israeli doctor tests positive for coronavirus 3 months after recovering

pharmafile | July 20, 2020 | News story | Sales and Marketing COVID-19, coronavirus 

An Israeli doctor has appeared to have contracted COVID-19 for a second time after they tested positive for the virus 3 months after recovering from it.

The doctor works at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer and came into contact with a patient with the virus, which is thought to have contributed to them contracting the virus again. This comes after they tested negative in both May and June.

Another similar case occurred in Israel in May, when a 45 year old women from Jisr e-Zarka tested positive for the virus a month after she was discharged from hospital and tested negative twice.

This follows a trend seen throughout the world of people seemingly contracting the virus for a second time. Preliminary studies in China, Germany and the UK found that people exposed to the virus see their immune systems create protective antibodies but so far they only appear to last for a few months. This poses complications for vaccine manufacturers, who may now have to set their sights on creating a treatment that is administered regularly, like flu vaccines.

Professeor Gabriel Izbicki of Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center told The Times of Israel that: “What we are seeing is very frightening. More than half the patients, weeks after testing negative, are still symptomatic. There is very little research about the mid-term effect of coronavirus.”

Conor Kavanagh

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