Your questions, answered What is rebound Covid after taking Paxlovid? Are you contagious again, and what is the cause?- Deborah, Fla. Paxlovid is a drug given to people who have tested positive for coronavirus and are at greater risk for death or severe illness from covid-19. The drug's aim is to keep people from becoming seriously ill. But it has created another pandemic unknown. Some people who took the drug got better and tested negative for coronavirus. Days later, their symptoms come back, and they tested positive again. The phenomenon has puzzled and concerned doctors. The cause is not yet known, but in clinical trials of the drug its manufacturer, Pfizer, detected a "small number" of people who experienced a rebound infection. For those patients, the symptoms of the initial coronavirus infection abated after treatment and they tested negative, so it seems the infection is clear from the body. But between two to eight days after the recovery, symptoms reappeared and the patient again tested positive. Adding to the riddle, Pfizer reported that some of the clinical trial patients who had received a placebo rather than the drug experienced rebound infections. Some of the patients with rebounds after Paxlovid or a placebo were fully vaccinated. Experts have said that more data needs to be gathered to know what is going on and that patients should be warned so they don't panic and know to take another coronavirus test if they feel ill shortly after the course of treatment. In a new advisory released last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said patients with a rebound infection should be treated as infectious. They need to resume a five-day isolation and continue wearing a mask for 10 days. The isolation should be extended if the patient still has a fever (without fever-treating drugs). The patient should not have another round of Paxlovid, the CDC said. None of the known cases of rebound infections have led to severe illness or death, the agency said. "A brief return of symptoms may be part of the natural history of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) infection in some persons, independent of treatment with Paxlovid and regardless of vaccination status," the CDC said in the new advisory. The CDC said anyone experiencing a covid-19 rebound infection after Paxlovid treatment should use Medwatch to notify Pfizer and the government. | 
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