Paphos Life

WHO says looking into reports of some Covid patients testing positive again

REUTERS
Apr 11th 2020 15.20PM

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Saturday that it was looking into reports of some Covid-19 patients testing positive again after initially testing negative for the disease while being considered for discharge. South Korean officials on Friday reported 91 patients thought cleared of the new coronavirus had tested positive again. Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a briefing that the virus may have been "reactivated" rather than the patients being re-infected. The Geneva-based WHO, asked about the report from Seoul, told Reuters in a brief statement: "We are aware of these reports of individuals who have tested negative for Covid-19 using PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing and then after some days testing positive again. "We are closely liaising with our clinical experts and working hard to get more information on those individual cases. It is important to make sure that when samples are collected for testing on suspected patients, procedures are followed properly," it said.

I had heard previously that there was 1 person that was discharged and then re-tested and confirmed to have it again. This was in South Korea. On the BBC news last night, they mentioned that the virus had morphed 3 times since emerging in China and this was slowing the search for an effective vaccine.

You need to read the full story before worrying too much. They don't think the people have necessarily got it again, but that it was dormant, and has been reactivated. There are a number of other scenarios too.

A fb friend of mine was hospitalised early this week and tested twice. Both negative. Was expecting to come home on Thursday but started with chest problems.
A third test was taken coming out with a positive result. So, still in hospital undergoing treatment.
Still waiting an update as heard nothing since late morning yesterday.

Looks like it can hide for a while before it shows itself fully.

So I wonder which tests they are using on the people in the Paphos area...

Happy in Cyprus wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2020 3:17 am More likely to be a failure of the testing systems, which are not infallible; it's possible to get false negatives. Some tests only work at certain (more advanced) stages of the illness and not at the onset.

According to the pundits I follow the problem with PCR tests is that taking the swab sample may not have been done correctly (mostly due to lack of cooperation by the patient as it´s uncomfortable or often painful). Here is a video from a patient who describes her experience (9 min into it): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekCWWjgUjbk