At this point in the pandemic, almost everyone in the U.S. has had COVID-19—whether they know it or not. But something more alarming is happening: A growing number of people are getting reinfected with SARS-CoV-2.
While many people assumed that getting infected meant higher protection from future encounters with the virus, the latest wave of COVID-19 cases shows that reinfections are becoming more common with newer variants—such as the XBB.1.5 subvariant of Omicron—contributing to second or even third infections. And as SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve and behave more like its closely related cousins that cause common colds and infect people repeatedly throughout their lives, physicians are urging patients not to let their guards down.
The AMA’s What Doctors Wish Patients Knew™ series provides physicians with a platform to share what they want patients to understand about today’s health care headlines, especially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this installment, two physicians took time to discuss what patients need to know about COVID-19 reinfection. They are:
Nancy Crum, MD, an infectious disease physician at Avita Health System in Galion, Ohio. Dr. Crum is also an alternate delegate in the AMA House of Delegates for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Rambod A. Rouhbakhsh, MD, a faculty physician and program director at the Forrest General Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program and the principal investigator for Hattiesburg Clinic MediSync Clinical Research. Hattiesburg Clinic is a member of the AMA Health System Program.
Reinfection is problematic
Reinfection is problematic
“It can be problematic if you are reinfected,” Dr. Rouhbakhsh said. “We know from a pretty elegant study that was recently published i …