Chinese doctors sounding the alarm on the coronavirus say the illness could be even deadlier
for patients who catch it again, according to a report.
The whistleblowing physicians working to fight the virus in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak,
revealed that medically cleared patients have been getting reinfected, the Taiwan News reported.
"It's highly possible to get infected a second time", one of the doctors, who declined to be identified, told the outlet.
The physician said that medication used to treat the virus can have negative side effects on patients' heart tissue,
making them more susceptible to cardiac arrest.
"A few people recovered from the first time by their own immune system, but the meds they use are damaging their heart tissue,
and when they get it the second time, the antibody doesn't help but makes it worse, and they die a sudden death from heart failure," the doctor said.
The doctor added that the virus has "outsmarted all of us, since he says it's able to hide symptoms for
up to 24 days which contradicts current guidance that the incubation period is two weeks.
What's more, the infected patients often return false negatives before eventually being diagnosed with the illness.
"It can fool the test kit and 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."
The virus, officially known has COVID-19, has killed at least 2,004 people in mainland China and infected more than 74,000 others.