More than 28,300 people have been infected and 565 have died in the Chinese coronavirus outbreak. But people already infected and recovered may not be safe .
While the body can become partially immune to some viruses, such as the flu, or almost completely immune to others, such as chickenpox, reinfections can occur, and the coronavirus is no exception, according to Dr. Zhan Qingyuan .
Reinfections
Still, there is no evidence so far that people can be reinfected from the Chinese coronavirus, despite warnings from Zhan Quingyuan .
The way people develop immunity to a virus is by creating substances called antibodies, highly specific parts of the immune system that seek out and attack viruses.
According to Zhan Quingyuan : "However, in certain individuals, the antibody cannot last that long." But it is premature to say such a thing because we are still too ignorant about this coronavirus.
On the other hand, it is true that viruses also tend to have multiple strains. This is why we get the flu even though we have been immunized for a strain. But so far the nCoV19 virus has changed remarkably little .