Doctors & Scientists Find A hint of "encouraging news" regarding the virus ...
A study found antibodies against COVID-19 in recovered patients up to five months after their infection.
time.com
As more and more people are diagnosed with COVID-19, the question of how long immunity to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the illness, lasts, is increasingly important. Understanding that would help patients know whether they can get re-infected, and potentially even help doctors to better understand what type of protection we can expect from vaccines.
Previous research found that levels of antibodies in recovered patients start to wane about
three months from when those patients first experience symptoms. But in a
study published in Science this week, researchers at Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai report that antibodies may last as long as five months.
The scientists analyzed bl.ood plasma, which contains immune cells including antibodies, from more than 30,000 people who were sick with COVID-19 between March and October. The majority of recovered patients experienced mild to moderate symptoms and weren’t hospitalized. They donated their
plasma as part of the hospital’s study of whether this plasma, enriched with immune cells, could be used to treat coronavirus infections. Nearly half of them generated high level of antibodies.
To get a better idea of how long the antibodies last, the researchers focused on a smaller group of 121 participants and measured their antibody levels several times: starting a month after they first experienced symptoms, then again at 52, 82 and 148 days. They found substantial levels of antibodies in most of the participants all the way to the end of the study. What’s more, these antibodies continued to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 at pretty much the same levels in the lab throughout the five months.
Exactly how long these antibodies may remain to protect against infection isn’t clear yet, but Wajnberg plans to continue collecting plasma and analyzing the antibodies in the smaller group of donors for a year. If the antibody levels remain stable, that’d be a sign that recovered patients do likely develop a high level of immunity from the virus—and it bodes well for the efficacy of future vaccines. “Presumably if there is longevity of these antibodies after infection, that is good news for a vaccine,” she says. “But we don’t know how much longevity yet. We just need to follow these people for more time.”
However encouraging the results are that some type of immunity against the COVID-19 might be possible, Wajnberg warns that people who have recovered from infections should still take precautions. “This is a large data set and the study is encouraging in terms of there being some protection in the majority of people who had SARS-CoV-2 infection in the past,” she says. “However, until we know more about what actually protects against the virus, we should still continue to follow all the recommended precautions around hand washing, masking and social distancing.”
(more) READ ABOUT THE STUDY PROCESS
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