MANAMA: A Bahrain study has highlighted the role of vaccination, and antibodies from prior infection, in reducing the severity of symptoms in those reinfected with Covid-19.
The retrospective epidemiological report analysed 1,362 Covid-19 reinfection cases in Bahrain between April 2020 and July 2021.
“Only 89 people (6.6 per cent) reinfected during this period required hospitalisation and there were no deaths,” said the study published in the Research Square website.
Disease severity was also mild and differed among the group – with vaccinated patients mostly being asymptomatic during reinfection, said National Taskforce to Combat Covid-19 senior member and Infectious Diseases Consultant and Microbiologist at the BDF Hospital Lt Col Dr Manaf Al Qahtani, who was part of the study.
Differences in disease severity and characteristics of reinfection were determined across various categories – those who were fully vaccinated, those who received interrupted shots (positive test less than 14 days after the second dose of vaccine), one dose of the jab, vaccination post reinfection and unvaccinated.
Information was collected from the National Covid-19 Contact Tracing Team database of individuals who tested positive for the coronavirus.
During the study, cases of reinfection increased from zero per month in April-June 2020 to a sharp peak of 579 in May 2021.
Males constituted a significantly larger proportion of reinfections (60.3pc) than females (39.7pc).
Reinfection episodes were highest amongst those aged between 30 and 39 years (29.7pc), the study revealed.
Meanwhile, chances of reinfection increased with time – with the lowest probability at three to six months after the first infection (20.6pc) and the highest after nine months (46.4pc).
Comparison of the symptomatology revealed that most individuals were asymptomatic during the first and second infection (35.7pc), while 265 (19.5pc) were symptomatic during both episodes.
However, the overall reinfection rate in those unvaccinated, partially vaccinated and fully vaccinated remains unclear.
&uuid=(email))