Nevada man’s COVID-19 reinfection said to be first confirmed case in US

A 25-year-old Reno man is the nation’s first COVID-19 patient proven to have been reinfected by the new coronavirus, according to the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory in Reno.

The man first tested positive for the virus in April, and again 48 days later in June, following two negative tests in May, lab director Dr. Mark Pandori said at a news briefing Friday. The patient had “no significant underlying immunological conditions” that would have made him more vulnerable to reinfection.

After suffering mild symptoms during his first infection, the patient was hospitalized during his second infection and required oxygen support.

“It should cement in our minds that there’s no such thing in immunology as invulnerability,” Pandori said of the findings.

Researchers enlisted the help of the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office forensics laboratory to confirm the tested specimens came from the same person, ensuring there was no mix-up resulting in a false finding, Pandori said. The patient also showed symptoms of the disease in both cases.

While there have been reports of other patients in the U.S. being infected with the virus twice, Pandori this is the nation’s first case backed by genomics-based research. It is the fourth known case of reinfection worldwide, joining one case in Hong Kong and two in Europe.

In this case, the scientists tested the genomes of the patient’s virus samples and concluded there was “significant genetic discordance between the two cases, implying the patient was infected twice,” according to a UNR news release. Pandori said they found at least 11 genetic differences in the samples, more than would be expected from mutation.

“There was a great unknown whether we would see that with this virus,” he said. “We know that can happen now.”

Researchers with the the University of Nevada, Reno, School of Medicine have been working on the case for “a couple of months,” and recently submitted a paper on their findings for peer review, Pandori said. They hope to publish their findings in The Lancet medical journal.

The implications of the reinfection cases are not yet known, Pandori said, though they suggest that previously infected people may not be protected by antibodies that would keep them from falling ill with COVID-19 again.

Pandori said that data collected from proven reinfection cases could help discover if there is a “virologic or biologic theme” to reinfection. He also speculated that COVID-19 could pose challenges to maintaining immunity, requiring people receive multiple vaccinations over time, like they do for the flu.

“This virus may have tricks up its sleeve, it very well might,” he said.

Contact Michael Scott Davidson at sdavidson@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Follow @davidsonlvrj on Twitter.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.