Covid-19 re-infection, insider experience

Mar 16, 2022 09:37 GMT+7

Having been infected with Covid-19 once in August 2021, having received all 3 vaccines, Ms. Le VNN, 37 years old, living in District 5, Ho Chi Minh City is still positive again for the Omicron variant.

Ms. N. said she had a slight fever when she was re-infected with Covid-19, she lost her sense of smell and taste, and after a month she regained her sense of taste and smell. After being infected with Covid-19 for the first time, Ms. N also lost strength, lost her hair, and lost sleep. In particular, the hair falls off the top of the head.

This new wave of Omicrons, Ms. N. tries to keep herself safe. However, the three children go to school, so it is difficult to avoid infection. The children who were also infected from August 2021 are now infected again.

Feeling twice infected, Ms. N. said last time, the whole family went to a field hospital in District 2, and this time, they isolated themselves at home. The first time, the feeling of panic, watching a loved one die from Covid-19, this time I felt calmer, accepted it and self-monitored my health.

N. herself, after being infected, was only tired, sore throat and a lot of phlegm. She did not have a fever or vomiting.

3 children of Ms. N. are all under 12 years old and have not been vaccinated. The first time I was infected with Covid-19 Delta strain, only 1 child had a fever, the rest were healthy. However, this time the infection has symptoms of fever. All three children have high fever. The 11-year-old baby has a high fever of 39.5 degrees Celsius, taking fever-reducing medicine only lowers to 38.5 degrees Celsius. Ms. N. patiently lowered her child’s fever, looking for an online consultant to help.

Two children aged 5 and 9 years old had a lower fever with vomiting. Ms. N. said she felt extremely impatient. The first time was so gentle, but the second time the children were violently beaten. The couple took turns looking after the children. The psychology is also more comfortable than the first time, treatment at home should follow the instructions of the pediatrician.

Covid-19 quick test photo is positive.

Also experiencing a second re-infection, Ms. Ho TL (Bien Hoa, Dong Nai) confided that she had a history of cancer and was infected with Covid-19 once in November 2021. When she contracted Covid-19 for the first time, Ms. L only lost her taste and smell. After Covid-19, she suffered from post-Covid-19 who was always tired, lost her vitality, and out of breath. She had to recover from Covid-19 with acupressure so it helped. Now again, Ms. L. is extremely worried about being “executed”.

Ms. L. said the symptom this time was the strain of Omicron, she felt a sore throat from 2 days ago and at first thought she had tonsillitis because the test didn’t come up quickly. The sore throat condition lasted until the 3rd day, Ms. L. just tested at that time, the test card showed two very positive positive lines. Feeling the second reinfection, Ms. L. was equally nervous as the first time because she had a pre-existing medical condition.

According to Dr. Pham Hung Van – Former Lecturer at University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City Most cases of reinfection have milder symptoms than before. Dr. Van said that reinfected patients are also monitored and treated according to the symptoms of the disease.

In addition, patients should only use anti-viral drug Molnupiravir in case of underlying disease, have not received enough vaccines, the disease is at risk of severe progression. Young people who are fully vaccinated do not need antiretroviral therapy.

Dr. Van said the principle is still only need to take fever-reducing medicine if the fever is high or a lot of pain, pay attention to nourish the body through nutrition, take more vitamin D.

To detect people who may be at risk of worsening, the solution is also by monitoring for signs of a decrease in SpO2. If the reading is still above 95%, they should be asked to walk for 5 to 10 minutes to detect potential SpO2 dropers (at this time SpO2 will decrease below 95%) and treat promptly.

People with the Delta variant were previously at a time when there was no vaccine, so there is a high proportion of people with risk factors who develop severe disease.

At present, Dr. Van said that the majority of people infected with Omicron have been vaccinated, so the rate of people with severe progression is very low. Patients are mainly chills, fatigue, low-grade fever, sore throat and persist for a few days and then go away.

Symptoms of loss of smell and loss of taste are often absent in people infected with Omicron compared to people infected with Delta. Dr. Van said that the current Covid-19 infection is similar to the symptoms of being infected with a virus.

Khanh Chi