New research released on Wednesday is expected to provide comfort to covid-19 survivors concerned about losing their natural coronavirus immunity soon. The findings suggest that in most people, a robust immune response to the virus lasts at least eight months – and there are good signs that it may even last for years.
There has been concern about decreased immunity since almost the beginning of the pandemic. Related coronavirus that cause cold people usually reinfect people and reports of covid-19 reinfections have emerged in 2020. Some studies have also suggested that antibody levels to the virus may drop significantly within three months.
On the other hand, immunity is a complicated mess. Antibodies are not the only source of immunity that we get against germs like the coronavirus. AND, at least so far, confirmed reports of reinfection still seem rare. This new study, Published in science, it seems to provide the most up-to-date look at how our immune responses to the virus change over time – and the verdict is largely positive.
The scientists studied the blood of 180 volunteers who confirmed covid-19, including samples taken six months after infection. Antibody levels against the virus decreased slightly after infection but remained stable after that for up to eight months in most people. The virus-specific T cells also decreased slightly after three months, but remained at stable levels after that. Meanwhile, memory B cells, which help the immune system wake up in response to a family threat and create more antibodies when needed, were actually more abundant in the six.mark of the month than in a month. This is especially encouraging, because these B cells are crucial for long-term immunity, the type that lasts for years.
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The findings do not directly show that our immunity to covid-19 will last for absolutely eight months and more. Scientists are still trying to figure out how these immune responses in the body translate to protection in the real world. But in all, 95% of the people in the study had some level of immune memory in their antibodies, B cells, and T cells for virus five to eight months after the onset of symptoms. This indicates, the authors wrote, that “durable immunity against secondary covid-19 disease is a possibility in most individuals”.
Antibodies tend to be the most important part of immunity in preventing germ reinfection. This and other research has shown that our levels of antibodies against the coronavirus can vary substantially from person to person. This may explain why some people were reinfected in such a short time, with some cases Appearing just three months later. But as the experts noted, the other remaining aspects of our immunity should generally protect people from more serious illnesses if they are infected with a second time.
That said, the current pandemic situation is still very bad, with daily cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in the USA in record-High levels. Iit will take longer to discover other important issues, like how long the immunity provided by the vaccine will last. But, in a sea of bad news, at least there is some hope to catch on.