Whistleblowing Chinese Doctors Warn Coronavirus Reinfection is More Deadly
Whistleblowers say illness could be even deadlier for patients who catch it again
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Whistleblowing doctors in China are warning that reinfection of coronavirus could be more deadly than catching the virus the first time around, according to reports.
The whistleblowers say the coronavirus, COVID-19, could be even deadlier for patients who catch it again after being left vulnerable by treatments.
According to a report by Taiwan News, the whistleblowing physicians are working to fight the virus in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.
The doctors reportedly revealed that medically-cleared patients have been getting reinfected.
“It’s highly possible to get infected a second time,” one of the doctors told the outlet, on the condition of anonymity.
The physician revealed that medication being used to treat the virus can have negative side effects on patients’ heart tissue, making them more susceptible to cardiac arrest.
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“A few people recovered from the first time by their own immune system, but the meds [sic] they use are damaging their heart tissue, and when they get it the second time, the antibody doesn’t help but makes it worse,” the doctor said.
"They die a sudden death from heart failure,” the doctor added.
The whistleblower added that the virus has “outsmarted all of us” since he says it’s able to hide symptoms for up to 24 days.
The claim contradicts current guidance which says the incubation period is two weeks.
What’s more, infected patients often return false negatives before eventually being diagnosed with the virus.
“It can fool the test kit – there were cases that they found, the CT scan shows both lungs are fully infected but the test came back negative four times,” the whistleblower said.
“The fifth test came back positive.”
COVID-19 has now killed over 2,000 people in mainland China and infected more than 74,000 others.
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Meanwhile, China has again altered the methodology for counting coronavirus cases.
For the second time in over a week, China on Thursday changed its criteria for confirming coronavirus cases, throwing into confusion the methodology that the country at the heart of the outbreak uses to track transmissions and resulting in a dramatic decrease in new infections, according to the New York Times.
The new criteria exclude patients from Hubei Province, the hardest-hit area of the outbreak, who are diagnosed using clinical methods, including CT scans and an assessment of symptoms.
Instead, patients there would be counted as having contracted the virus only when confirmed by a specialized nucleic acid test.
Using the new criteria, officials in the province on Thursday recorded 349 new cases in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total national figures to 74,576.
New deaths rose by 114 on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 2,118.
