Reinfection risk of novel coronavirus (COVID-19): A systematic ‎review of current evidence

Table 1 Identified reinfection risk of novel coronavirus

ID	Ref.	Type of study	Country	Study population	Reinfection outcome
					ReCoVery	Death	Unknown	Other findings
1	Alizargar et al[16]	Letter to the editor	South Korea	CoVID-19 patients	No	No	Yes	South Korea reported that 116 reCoVered cases of CoVID-19 were found positive again
2	Gousseff et al[25]	Letter to the editor	France	CoVID-19 patients	Yes	Yes	No	Between April 6 and May 14, 2020, 11 patients were identified (sex ratio M/F 1.2, median age 55, range 19-91 yr). The median duration of symptoms was 18 (13-41) d for the first episode and 10 d for the second one for the 7 patients who eventually reCoVered
3	Chaturvedi et al[20]	Review	South Korea	CoVID-19 patients	No	No	Yes	Concerning reports released from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) have noted that up to 163 patients who were presumed to have reCoVered from SARS-CoV-2 infection ended up testing positive with PCR testing yet again
4	Gomez-Mayordomo et al[30]	Short communication	Spain	A case study in a patient with relapsing-remitting MS treated with fingolimod	No	No	Yes	This case suggests that discontinuation of fingolimod during CoVID-19 could imply a worsening of SARS-CoV-2 infection. No information about reinfection
5	Hageman et al[31]	Editorial	United States	CoVID-19 in children	Yes	No	No	Limited data suggest that reCoVery might confer immunity
6	Hoang et al[32]	Letter to the editor	France	Patients reCoVered from CoVID-19	No	No	Yes	Recurrence of SARS-CoV-2 in patients who had reCoVered from CoVID-19 has been described. However, it is possible that recurrences could actually be persistent infections in which the PCR resulted falsely negative at discharge
7	Inamo et al[33]	Letter of biomedical and clinical research	Japan	CoVID-19 patients	No	No	Yes	-
8	Islam et al[34]	Review article	Bangladesh	CoVID-19 patients	No	No	Yes	There is a possibility of reinfection as the humoral immunity weakens over time
9	Kang et al[26]	Commentary	China	CoVID-19 patients	No	No	Yes	ReCoVered patients become retest positive due to false-negative PCR or patients did not completely meet discharge criteria or due to dead viruses
10	Kannan et al[35]	Review article	India	Gene study between SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1 and batCoV and MERS-CoV	No	No	Yes	Many researchers observed that there is SARS-CoV-2 reinfection in the same treated patients
11	Karimi et al[36]	Letter to the editor	Iran	CoVID-19 patients	Yes	No	No	-
12	Kassa et al[37]	Analytic article	Botswana	CoVID-19 patients	No	No	Yes	Not related to our topic but it is said “reinfection” by the family of coronavirus is possible
13	Kellam et al[38]	Review article	United Kingdom	Patients with coronavirus infection	No	No	Yes	Immediate reinfection is not possible but reinfection of previously mild SARS-CoV-2 cases is a realistic possibility
14	Kirkcaldy et al[39]	Viewpoint	United States	CoVID-19 Patients	No	No	Yes	ReCoVery from CoVID-19 might confer immunity against reinfection, at least temporarily
15	Koks et al[40]	Commentary	Australia	CoVID-19 patients	No	No	Yes	No information related to our study except “the testing needs to be repeated several times as persons with negative tests could become positive the next day as a result of a new infection or there plication of the virus”
16	Law et al[27]	Letter to the editor	China/Hong Kong	Patients reCoVered from CoVID-19	No	No	Yes	There is currently no supporting evidence for CoVID-19 reinfection after reCoVery but retest can be positive due to several reasons
17	Laxminarayan et al[41]	Perspective	India	CoVID-19 in children	No	No	Yes	Reinfection is not probable
18	Leslie et al[42]	Letter	United States	SARS-CoV-2 patients	No	No	Yes	Patients with past infection with other coronaviruses that cause common cold may have some immunity to SARS-CoV-2
19	Luo et al[43]	Case report	China	Woman with CoVID-19	Yes	No	No	-
20	Meca-Lallana et al[44]	Correspondence	Spain	CoVID-19 patients with MS	No	No	Yes	-
21	Okhuese et al[45]	Statistical	Nigeria	CoVID-19 patients	No	No	Yes	There is no secondary reinfection in reCoVered patients. However, some reports have shown there have been a few rare cases of reinfection
22	Omer et al[46]	Viewpoint	United States	CoVID-19 patients in the United States	No	No	Yes	True reinfection is unlikely
23	Ota et al[47]	In brief	United States	Rhesus monkeys	No	No	Yes	-
24	Ozdinc et al[48]	Statistical	Turkey	Turkish people infected with CoVID-19	No	No	Yes	There is short term immunity
25	Roy et al[17]	Review	India	CoVID-19 patients	No	No	Yes	Reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 seems unlikely taking into consideration our knowledge. We must maintain vigilance during the convalescence period and must take into consideration the probability of genetic mutations, as observed, rather than reinfection by the same strain
26	Steinchen et al[49]	Case report	Germany	A case of rheumatoid arthritis and CoVID-19 patient	Yes	No	No	A case of rheumatoid arthritis and insufficient compensation is reported under long-term combination therapy with methotrexate and leflunomide. After going through CoVID-19 infection, a new adjustment was made to a tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blocker. No reactivation of the infection has occurred in the short period of time initiated by the initiated bDMARD (biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug) therapy after surviving CoVID-19 infection with positive antibody status. Biologic therapy without mandatory medical indication should not be performed to protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection
27	Ueffing et al[50]	Review	Germany	CoVID-19 patients	No	No	Yes	Seven human pathogenic coronaviruses have already been detected in humans, most of which can cause respiratory diseases, but occasionally also conjunctivitis and middle ear infections. Four of the previously known coronaviruses (229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1) typically cause relatively minor symptoms in the context of human infection of the upper respiratory tract. SARS-CoV and the 2012 MERS-CoV lead to severe respiratory diseases and have a significant mortality rate. Experiences with other coronavirus infections (SARS and MERS) indicate that the immunity could persist for several years. Based on animal experiments, already acquired data on other coronavirus types and plausibility, it can be assumed that seroconverted patients have the immunity of limited duration and only a very low risk of reinfection
28	Verhagen et al[51]	Research study	England and Wales	CoVID-19 patients	No	No	Yes	Areas face disproportionate risks for CoVID-19 hospitalization pressures due to their socioeconomic differences and the demographic composition of their populations. Our flexible online dashboard allows policymakers and health officials to monitor and evaluate potential health care demand at a granular level as the infection rate and hospital capacity changes throughout the course of this pandemic. This agile knowledge is invaluable to tackle the enormous logistical challenges to re-allocate resources and target susceptible areas for aggressive testing and tracing to mitigate transmission
29	Waltuch et al[52]	Case reports	United States	Children with CoVID-19 infection	No	No	Yes	Patients presenting with CoVID-19 associated post-infectious cytokine release syndrome appear to present with prolonged fever (5 d or greater) and GI symptoms with or without rash. This syndrome may overlap with features of Kawasaki Disease and Toxic Shock Syndrome. Patients who present with this clinical picture should have frequent vital signs and will require admission due to the potential for rapid deterioration
30	Tao et al[28]	Research study	China	CoVID-19 patients	Yes	No	No	These results implied that the positive result is unlikely caused by the reinfection from others or the remained virus. Rather, it may derive from the remained virus transferred from the lower respiratory tract to the throat or nose with coughing. Accordingly, it is suggested that the specimen detection of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from the lower respiratory tract should be used as the discharge criteria
31	Zhou et al[53]	Review	China	CoVID-19 patients	No	No	Yes	Re-fever and positive nucleic acid test after discharge from the hospital might be due to the biological characteristics of 2019-nCoV, and might also be related to the basic disease, clinical status, glucocorticoid use, sampling, processing, and detecting of patients, and some even related to the reinfection or secondary bacterial virus infection

CoVID-19: Coronavirus disease 2019; F: Female; GI: Gastrointestinal; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; M: Male; MERS-CoV: Middle East respiratory syndrome-coronavirus; MS: Multiple sclerosis; PCR: Polymerase chain reaction; SARS-CoV-2: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.