A new study suggests that the body’s immune response to the new coronavirus may last at least eight months after the onset of symptoms of the initial infection.
The duration of immunity to Covid-19 has been the subject of research during the pandemic, and studies so far have provided several results. In July last year, a study suggested that immunity could be lost in months. Like The Indian Express reported at the time, researchers at King’s College London came to that conclusion from a drop they saw in antibody levels in patients recovered from Covid-19 over time – from a “potent level” in 60% of study participants during the peak of infection to just 16.7% withholding that power level 65 days later. While that study suggested that patients recovered from Covid-19 are likely to remain susceptible to reinfection, the new study suggests that almost all Covid-19 survivors have the immune cells needed to fight reinfection.
The study, published in the journal Science, is based on analyzes of blood samples from 188 patients. “Our data suggest that the immune response is there – and it remains,” said Alessandro Sette of the La Jolla Institute (LJI), who co-led the study with Shane Crotty and Daniela Weiskopf, in a statement released by LJI.
“We measure antibodies, memory B cells, helper T cells and killer T cells, all at the same time. As far as we know, this is the largest study of all time, for any acute infection, which measured all four components of immune memory, ”said Crotty, citing LJI.
The findings could mean that Covid-19 survivors have protective immunity against serious SARS-CoV-2 disease for months, perhaps years after infection, the researchers said. The study addresses concerns arising from Covid-19 data from other laboratories, which showed a dramatic drop in specific Covid antibodies over time.
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As the researchers said, a decline in antibodies is very normal. “This is what immune responses do. They have a first phase of acceleration and, after this fantastic expansion, eventually the immune response contracts a little and reaches a stable state, ”said Sette.