Two doctors in India get COVID-19 thrice, samples collected for study

Two female doctors in India have been infected with coronavirus three times — a 61-year-old doctor from Delhi and a 26-year-old doctor from Mumbai. Both cases had a set of similar patterns. The 61-year-old Delhi doctor tested positive for coronavirus first in August 2020, then in early April 2021 and third time, in early May 2021. The Mumbai doctor, identified as Shrusthi Halari, tested positive in June 2020, in May 2021 and then in July 2021.

Both female doctors were also fully vaccinated (both doses) against COVID-19 in March and April. It is pertinent to note that vaccination does not mean a person will not be infected at all. Vaccines offer a layer of protection, reducing the severity of the infection and fatality and offering relatively better immunity. While both female doctors had mild symptoms the first two times, they required treatment at a hospital during the third infection.

According to the Times of India, the 61-year-old Delhi doctor had a few comorbidities, including asthma since childhood, hypertension for two years and Prediabetes for six months. She tested positive on August 16, 2020, and was asymptomatic, although her samples turned negative for the virus on August 19. She tested positive for the second time on April 12, 2021, and then negative on April 14 and 24, per TOI. She exhibited fever, fatigue, muscle pain (myalgia) and acute abdominal pain. On May 3, she was diagnosed with COVID-19 for the third time after exhibiting symptoms from April 25, which reportedly lasted till mid-June. She was hospitalised for five days due to symptoms such as breathlessness, cough, fever and body ache. Incidentally, her genome sequences showed the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7, first detected in the UK) during the second reinfection and the Delta variant (B.1.617.2, first reported in India) during the third reinfection.

Shrusthi, the 26-year-old female doctor from Mumbai, was first diagnosed with COVID-19 on June 17, 2020, which was a mild infection. On May 29 this year, she tested positive for coronavirus again, with mild symptoms. The third-time infection was detected on July 11, during which, she was hospitalised, reported the Hindustan Times. Samples of Shrusthi, who has been working at Mulund COVID-19 Care Centre, has been collected for genome sequencing.

She said she was at home, preparing for her post-graduation exam, when she got reinfected the third time, which caused confusion. Shrusthi told NDTV that her third reinfection was hard. Her family members, who have underlying health conditions, too, contracted the disease. 

Citing these cases, a study is being conducted at Kasturba Hospital in Mumbai and CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in Delhi. These cases have been termed ‘breakthrough reinfections,’ where the reinfection has been reported 15 days after getting vaccinated.

While the study on both the doctors who sustained reinfection is underway, reports claim their health condition is currently stable.