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A new study by researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology found that almost all survivors of COVID-19 retain immune cells that can fight against reinfection for at least eight months or possibly longer.
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The results, based on analyzes of blood samples from 188 patients with COVID-19, suggest that responses to the body’s immune system virus may last at least eight months after the onset of symptoms of the initial infection.
“Our data suggest that the immune response is there – and it remains,” said Dr. Alessandro Sette, who co-led the study with Dr. Shane Crotty and research assistant Daniela Weiskopf.
“We measured antibodies, memory B cells, helper T cells and killer T cells, all at the same time,” said Crotty. “As far as we know, this is the largest study ever done, for any acute infection, that measured all four components of immune memory.”
The findings, published in the January 6 online edition of Science, mean that survivors of COVID-19 may have protective immunity against the coronavirus for months and perhaps years after infection.
The team warned that protective immunity varies dramatically from person to person. People with weak immune system memory may be vulnerable to a recurrent case of COVID-19 or may be more likely to infect others.
“There are some people who do not know how much immune memory they have, and perhaps these people are much more susceptible to reinfection,” said Crotty.
The researchers will continue to analyze samples from patients with COVID-19 in the coming months and hope to track their responses 12 to 18 months after the onset of symptoms.
The La Jolla Institute of Immunology was founded in 1988 as an independent, non-profit research organization with the goal of achieving a disease-free life.
San Diego researchers discover that COVID survivors have long-term immunity to reinfection was last modified: January 10, 2021 in
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