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People can get infected twice with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 — but only in rare cases, according to a new Danish study.
Researchers at the Statens Serum Institut, Denmark’s top infectious disease authority, found that a small number of people infected with Omicron’s BA.1 subvariant can contract its BA.2 strain shortly afterward.
“We provide evidence that Omicron BA.2 reinfections are rare but can occur relatively shortly after a BA.1 infection,” the authors said.
The study, which is not yet peer-reviewed, identified 1,739 cases between Nov. 21 and Feb. 11 of patients who tested positive twice between 20 and 60 days apart.
In that period, Denmark recorded more than 1.8 million coronavirus cases.
Researchers still detected lower levels of “virus material” during the second infection, suggesting some immunity was developed from the first infections.
They stressed that the reinfections are rare and mostly affected young, unvaccinated people and only caused mild disease, none of which led to hospitalizations or deaths.
In Denmark, BA.2 has dethroned the “original” BA.1 variant, the most common worldwide, but it had remained unclear whether a person could get infected by both variants, which differ by up to 40 mutations.
While BA.2 accounts for more than 88 percent of cases in Denmark, the subvariant has just started to take hold in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Norway.
With Post wires
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