Reinfection cases by closely related SARS-CoV-2 lineages in Southern Brazil.
Juliana Schons GularteMariana Soares da SilvaMeriane DemolinerAlana Witt HansenFágner Henrique HeldtFlávio SilveiraMicheli FilippiVyctoria Malayhka de Abreu Góes PereiraFrancini Pereira da SilvaLarissa MallmannPietra FinkJéssica Luísa LauxMatheus Nunes WeberPaula Rodrigues de AlmeidaJuliane Deise FleckFernando Rosado SpilkiPublished in: Brazilian journal of microbiology : [publication of the Brazilian Society for Microbiology] (2021)
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for the pandemic that started in late 2019 and still affects people's lives all over the world. Lack of protective immunity after primary infection has been involved with reported reinfection cases by SARS-CoV-2. In this study, we described two cases of reinfection caused by non-VOC (Variants of Concern) strains in southern Brazil, being one patient a healthcare worker. The four samples previously positive for SARS-CoV-2 by real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) were sequenced by a high-performance platform and the genomic analysis confirmed that lineages responsible for infections were B.1.91 and B.1.1.33 (patient 1), and B.1.1.33 and B.1.1.28 (patient 2). The interval between the two positive RT-qPCR for patients 1 and 2 was 45 and 61 days, respectively. This data shows that patients may be reinfected even by very closely related SARS-CoV-2 lineages.