COVID-19: Centre asks RMRC to conduct detailed conclusive study

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Union Health Ministry has asked the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) located at Lahowal in Dibrugarh to conduct a detailed conclusive study on suspected cases of COVID-19 reinfection among doctors in Assam.

More than six doctors from Assam Medical College & Hospital (AMCH), Dibrugarh and Gauhati Medical College & Hospital (GMCH), who had infected with the virus in the line of duty and later tested negative, developed COVID-19 symptoms and tested positive in the middle part of September.

While the State Health department is yet to have any clinical data to confirm reinfection, the Union Health Ministry has asked the RMRC to conduct a detailed study before reaching at a conclusion on the issue. The RMRC has already collected blood samples on infected doctors at AMCH and GMCH to find out if these are cases of a coronavirus reinfection or not.

"Until there is an independent study by reputed organizations or individuals such as RMRC or ICMR experts, it is difficult to officially confirm cases of reinfection. We have to see whether the patients (or doctors at AMCH & GMCH) have been reinfected or if the tests are giving positive results due to presence of dead virus strains in the body. In some cases patients test positive for a long time due to delayed remission of the disease," a virologist at RMRC said.

He said some patients who remain positive weeks after diagnosis may harbour dead virus particles that can't be distinguished from infectious ones in standard tests.

"The virus normally dies one-to-two weeks after infecting and proliferating inside respiratory cells. But in some cases pieces of the virus's genetic material, or RNA, may remain in cells and be detected by a nucleic acid test a month or two after infection. We will study all these aspects in details before reaching at a conclusion," the virologist said.

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