Breakthrough COVID-19 infections – Analyzing our experience

  • Aneela Hussain Indus Hospital & Health Network
  • Samreen Sarfaraz Indus Hospital & Health Network
  • Sabiha Anis Indus Hospital & Health Network
  • Quratulain Shaikh Indus Hospital & Health Network
  • Anum Rahim Indus Hospital & Health Network
  • Shameem Behram Indus Hospital & Health Network
  • Rabeea Shah Indus Hospital & Health Network
  • Owais Khan Indus Hospital & Health Network
Keywords: COVID-19, Breakthrough infections, Clinical characteristics, Ant-COVID-IgG antibodies

Abstract

Objective: There are many cases of post-vaccination COVID-19 globally. Also, literature on serum antibodies after vaccination is abundant. Our research focuses on breakthrough infections reported at our institution during the third wave of COVID-19.

Methods: A total of 177 people recruited at the Indus Hospital Karachi between May to September 2021 with COVID-19 infection were divided into vaccinated, partially vaccinated, and unvaccinated cohorts. Furthermore, a subset of the vaccinated cohort was tested for anti-NP and anti-S antibodies.

Results: There were 119 patients with breakthrough infection, however, 74% had mild symptoms. The antibodies against NP and S were found at a higher level in those who had a breakthrough infection in comparison to healthy vaccinated controls.

Conclusion: Vaccination does not prevent disease but does confer some immunity causing less severe infection.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.5.6724

How to cite this: Hussain A, Sarfaraz S, Anis S, Sheikh Q, Rahim A, Behram S, et al. Breakthrough COVID-19 infections – Analyzing our experience. Pak J Med Sci. 2023;39(5):1225-1231. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.5.6724

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Author Biographies

Samreen Sarfaraz, Indus Hospital & Health Network

Consultant Infectious Diseases 

Department of Infectious Diseases

Sabiha Anis, Indus Hospital & Health Network

Section head and consultant Immunologist 

 

Immunology Department 

Quratulain Shaikh , Indus Hospital & Health Network

Fellow Infectious diseases 

 

Department of Infectious Diseases

Anum Rahim, Indus Hospital & Health Network

Junior epidimiologist 

Indus Hospital Research Centre 

Shameem Behram, Indus Hospital & Health Network

Consultant 

Department of Medicine 

Rabeea Shah, Indus Hospital & Health Network

Fellow Infectious diseases

 

Infectious diseases department

Owais Khan, Indus Hospital & Health Network

Fellow Infectious diseases

 

Infectious Diseases department 

Published
2023-08-02
How to Cite
Hussain, A., Sarfaraz, S., Anis, S., Shaikh, Q., Rahim, A., Behram, S., Shah, R., & Khan, O. (2023). Breakthrough COVID-19 infections – Analyzing our experience. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 39(5). https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.5.6724
Section
Original Articles