Immediate reinfection with Omicron variant after clearance of a previous SARS-CoV-2 infection

Antonella Mencacci; Alessio Gili; Barbara Camilloni; Giulia Bicchieraro; Roberta Spaccapelo; Carla Bietta; Fabrizio Stracci

Journal of Infection and Public Health (Sep 2022)

Immediate reinfection with Omicron variant after clearance of a previous SARS-CoV-2 infection

Antonella Mencacci,
Alessio Gili,
Barbara Camilloni,
Giulia Bicchieraro,
Roberta Spaccapelo,
Carla Bietta,
Fabrizio Stracci

Affiliations

Antonella Mencacci: Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy; Corresponding authors.
Alessio Gili: Public Health Section, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
Barbara Camilloni: Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
Giulia Bicchieraro: Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
Roberta Spaccapelo: Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
Carla Bietta: Epidemiology Unit, Department of Preventive Medicine, Local Health Unit 1, Umbria region, Italy
Fabrizio Stracci: Public Health Section, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy; Corresponding authors.

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 15, no. 9
pp. 983 – 985

Abstract

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SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is spreading worldwide, causing unprecedented epidemic peaks due to its transmissibility and immune evasion. We searched in the archive of the Regional Microbiology Laboratory (Umbria, Italy) for immediate reinfection (i.e. infection occurring 25–60 days from primary infection) among 454,764 RT-PCR tests from 261,217 individuals. Lineage heterogeneity was assessed by S gene target failure phenomenon or whole genome sequencing. We found that BA.1 Omicron variant may cause immediate reinfection of patients just recovered from Delta infection. Immediate reinfection was not observed for any other combination of variants, including Delta over Alpha variant and BA.2 over BA.1 Omicron lineage.

Published in Journal of Infection and Public Health

ISSN: 1876-0341 (Print); 1876-035X (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Medicine: Internal medicine: Infectious and parasitic diseases; Medicine: Public aspects of medicine
Website: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-infection-and-public-health

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Abstract

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