However, some people taking paxlovid and those not have experienced rebound cases of Covid-19, with symptoms returning just days after completing treatment and receiving a negative result. or test positive.
And recent high-profile rebounding incidents involving President Joe Biden, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Mrs. Jill Biden have raised questions about how often this happens.
“Based on the data we have so far, Covid-19 rebounds are relatively rare events that have not occurred in most cases,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told CNN. A small percentage of people infected with Covid-19 experience recurrences of symptoms, including those taking antiviral medications such as paxlovid.”
Experts say rebound cases are probably more common than the data suggests, but it’s difficult to know exactly how much.
There are various estimates of what that “small percentage” is, from less than 1% to more than 10% of people taking paxlobid, and definitions of rebound cases are inconsistent.
Dr. Michael Charness of the Center for Veterans Affairs in Boston says it’s important to have better insight into both individual patients and the wider community. Covid-19 relapsing after paxlovid treatment.
It should be noted that people who experience rebound cases can be contagious and may need to be re-isolated according to CDC guidance. A positive result “can certainly be a cause for concern for many people who are wondering, ‘Why is this happening to me?'”
Tracking the rebound of Covid-19
Pfizer does not have additional data on rebound cases outside of clinical trials. These clinical trials were conducted at a time when Delta variants were prevalent and most people were unvaccinated.
But according to Aditya Shah, an infectious disease expert and author of the report, the true infection rate is probably closer to 10%.
“We have to acknowledge the limitations of doing this type of study: all of these patients stay home and not all patients with recurring symptoms contact their doctors,” Shah said. “Thus, our study clearly underestimated the real cases.”
Chanes also estimates that Covid-19 rebound rates in vaccinated people who have taken Paxlovid are in a similar range, but uncertainties remain.
“There’s no study that gives us a definite answer. It’s probably not 50%, maybe not 2%,” he said. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s in the 5-10% range of people who get treated.”
Preliminary data suggest that people with comorbidities are more likely to experience rebound cases, according to the CDC. There is no strong evidence and more research is needed,” they said.
“I apologize for the inconvenience caused by the rebound”
Despite the potential for rebound, experts agree that Paxlovid is still an excellent treatment option.
If rebound cases of Covid-19 are one cost for taking paxlobid, it needs to be weighed against the possible costs of not having treatment.
The majority of people who have rebound cases of Covid-19 after taking paxlovid have been found to have mild symptoms. But it remains far from the level of serious illness that Pax Lovid was intended to protect against.
“I think it’s important, especially for people who are at high risk of progression, to take paxlobid,” he said. But for almost all of them, rebounding will be an inconvenience, and that inconvenience is actually less important than the potential to avoid hospitalization and death.”
President Biden and Fauci received a second course of Paxlovid to treat rebounding cases. And just this week, the FDA requested additional data from Pfizer to study patients who may need her second treatment.
“We continue to monitor data from ongoing clinical studies and post-approval safety studies, although further evaluation is warranted,” Pfizer said in a statement. We are very confident in its clinical efficacy in preventing outcomes.”
Much work has been done on the rebound case, Charness said, but many questions remain.
“I look back to February and March when this is something that is really not known and people who have experienced rebounds call their providers and are told as a test must be wrong,” he said. “From then to now, the information was very circulated. This is good, but people aren’t 100% sure what to do with it.”
