Are people with uncontrolled diabetes mellitus at high risk of reinfections with COVID-19?

Several cases of positive real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results (called re-positives) after recovery from COVID-19 have emerged worldwide. These cases could represent patients experiencing a turn positive of nucleic acid detection attributed to the high false-negative rate of RT-PCR. On the contrary, in symptomatic patients, the possibility of reactivation or true reinfection remains. We hypothesize that people with uncontrolled diabetes mellitus might be at a high risk of reinfections with COVID-19 attributed to the impaired adaptive immune response. In fact, multiple cases of re-positives/re-infections in people with diabetes mellitus have hitherto been reported. (C) 2020 Primary Care Diabetes Europe. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

There have been cases of positive real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results (known as "re-positives") after recovery from COVID-19, which could be due to the high false-negative rate of RT-PCR rather than true reinfection. However, in symptomatic patients, the possibility of reactivation or true reinfection remains. People with uncontrolled diabetes mellitus may be at higher risk of reinfections with COVID-19 due to impaired immune responses. Multiple cases of re-positives/re-infections in individuals with diabetes mellitus have been reported.