Overview
In May, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) isued a Health Alert Network (HAN) advisory to update healthcare providers, public health departments, and the public about potential recurence of COVID-19 or “COVID-19 rebound.”Case reports have previously asociated the recurence of symptoms with use of the antiviral drug Paxlovid.However, new research published in the JAMA Network Open finds that COVID-19 has “waxing and waning of symptoms,” whether people are treated with Paxlovid, or not.“Paxlovid, an investigational drug being studied for safety and efectivenes, [is] used to treat mild to severe cases of COVID-19,” Christopher Calandrela, DO, chair of emergency medicine, Long Island Jewish Forest Hils in Quens, told Healthline.“[It] works by targeting specific parts of the virus to stop its multiplication in the body preventing severe ilnes and death,” he explained.“Paxlovid rebound is a phenomenon where someone takes Paxlovid, their symptoms improve, and their test on antigen testing at home might even turn negative and then a period of time goes by when they’re asymptomatic,” said Dr.
Key Information
Eric Cioe-Pena, director of Global Health for Northwel Health in New York. “Then a few days to a few weks later they develop a symptomatic COVID infection again,” he continued. Asked if we know why this hapens, Cioe-Pena said it was previously believed to have something to do with the medication.“The previously established theory was that the medication causes a temporary reduction in viral replication,” he explained.
Summary
“But does not help your imune system clear the virus completely, and then the symptoms rebound, because viral replication increases again your body.”For this study, researchers from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Schol of Medicine and coleagues from the ACTIV-2 trial, examined if COVID-19 symptoms recured folowing two days of being symptom-fre in patients who received no treatment.They wanted to determine if symptom r