‘Most horrific experience’: Delhi woman doctor gets Covid-19 thrice, twice post vaccination

A 61yearold Delhi doctor infected with Covid19 thrice and contracting both the Alpha and Delta variants after vaccination presents the first such documented case of two reinfections and two breakthrough infectionsDr Veena Aggarwal wife of late Dr KK Aggarwal first tested positive on August 16 last year and was asymptomaticShe took her first dose of Covishield vaccine on February 1 this year followed by the second dose on March 15On April 12 she tested positive for the second time and had symptoms such as acute abdominal pain fever myalgia and fatigue Within 19 days on May 3 she tested positive for the third time The infection resulted in hypoxia hospitalisation and illness lasting seven weeks Whole genome sequencing showed the second infection was caused by Alpha variant and third by Delta variantIt is known that mutations always have the ability of skippingescaping the antibodies vaccine You dont know what you are going to be exposed to since this is a new virus Aggarwal who is also Trustee at the Heart Care Foundation of India told IANSAnybody can get infected anytime whether you are vaccinated or not But yes if you are vaccinated the chances of severe illness and death gets reduced Me and husband Dr KK Aggarwal were an exception to the rule I got saved because of my vaccines but Dr KK didnt because he also had other comorbiditiesHowever this should not be a deterrent for people to say that vaccines dont work They do work and there is no doubt about that My children were exposed to Covid19 but got saved due to vaccination she saidDr KK Aggarwal a cardiologist at the HCFI passed away at Delhis All India Institute of Medical Sciences after a long battle with the virus in MayHer case published in the peer reviewed medical journal Frontiers in Medicine showed that the doctorpatient had developed antibodies after her second infection and even had vaccineinduced antibodiesThere is no quantitative data so far anywhere in the world yet on which antibodies will prevent infections and what is the cutoff level for protection from the infections There is so far no guidelinesliterature on this Aggarwal told IANSThe study identified a rare breakthrough infection in 19 days and also confirmed it as a reinfectionBreakthrough infections happen when people get infected after vaccination because the virus broke through the protective barrier the vaccine providesThere are certain criteria laid down by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC and the Indian Council of Medical Research ICMR for reinfection They indicate that there has to be an infection on two different occasions which are 45 to 90 days apart as per the CDC and 102 days according to the ICMR This can be detected only if a person has access to wholegenome sequencing A study conducted by the ICMR indicates that the possibility of reinfections currently stands at 45 per cent said lead researcher Dr Jayanthi S Shastri Head at molecular diagnostic laboratory at Kasturba Hospital MumbaiAggarwal said I would say this is the most horrific experience in my life I want to tell everybody to take this seriously wear masks maintain hand hygiene and social distance and get vaccinatedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever