thevaccinereaction--2020-07-26--Tests for SARS-CoV-2 in South Korea Can’t Distinguish Virus from Viral Fragments

A team of South Korean infectious disease researchers has concluded there is no evidence that people can be reinfected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus .
The researchers , led by Oh Myoung-don , MD , head of Seoul National University Hospital ’ s division of infectious diseases , believe that reports of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 and subsequently tested positive again for SARS-CoV-2 were not due to reinfection or reactivation but , rather , to testing errors.1 2 3 4 5 6 According to Dr. Oh , the PCR ( polymerase chain reaction ) tests used to determine the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ diagnose cases of COVID-19 can not distinguish between the virus and harmless fragments of the virus.1 2 3 4 5 6 Vaccine developer Seol Dai-wu of Chung-Ang University in Seoul , South Korea agrees .
“ The RT-PCR machine itself can not distinguish an infectious viral particle versus a non-infectious virus particle , as the test simply detects any viral component , ” Seol said.2 As immunologist Beda Stadler , PhD , former director of the University Institute of Immunology at the Insel Hospital in Bern , Switzerland notes , people who recovered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ SARS-CoV-2 because… … the coronavirus test measures only a very tiny tiny piece of the genome of the virus , and if your immune cells have killed the virus , then you have debris , you have rotten pieces of the nucleic acids in your blood and everywhere , and the assay can pick up these rotten pieces and then it look like as if you ’ re infected .
You ’ re not .
You have won the fight , you ’ re immune .
So [ the test ] can not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people in South Korea who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 and recovered , tests detected fragments of the SARS-CoV-2 virus weeks after their recoveries .
“ The tests detected the ribonucleic acid of the dead virus , ” Dr. Oh said.1 2 3 4 5 6 He added : PCR testing that amplifies genetics of the virus is used in Korea to test COVID-19 , and relapse cases are due to technical limits of the PCR testing .
The respiratory epithelial cell has a half-life of up to three months , and RNA @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with PCR testing one to two months after the elimination of the cell.1 3 5 6 The findings by Dr. Oh and his research team have been confirmed by the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( KCDC ) .
On May 18 , 2020 , the KCDC announced that it had studied 285 cases of patients who had recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection and later tested positive again for the virus .
Despite the positive tests , the agency determined that the patients were not contagious because they did not actually have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ falsely identified dead viral matter as active COVID-19 infection.
” 8 9 The new research from South Korea has led to new protocols in that country for handling cases involving people who recovered from COVID-19 , completed a period of isolation and then retested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus .
Now , in South Korea , there is no longer a requirement for people , who have recovered from COVID-19 and gone through isolation , to test negative for SARS-CoV-2 before going back to work or school.9