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People who have recovered from Covid are immune to reinfection for 8 months, study finds
Melbourne:
People who have recovered from the novel coronavirus infection have immune memory to protect against reinfection for at least eight months, according to a new study that provides strong evidence that COVID-19 vaccines are likely to work for long periods of time. periods.
While previous studies have shown that antibodies to the coronavirus decline after the first few months of infection, raising concerns that people could lose their immunity quickly, the new research, published in the journal Science Immunology, puts these concerns to rest. .
Scientists, including those at Monash University in Australia, say specific cells of the immune system called memory B cells, “remember” the infection with the virus and, if re-exposed to the virus, trigger an immune response. protective through the rapid production of protective antibodies.
In the study, researchers recruited a cohort of 25 COVID-19 patients and collected 36 blood samples from them from day 4 after infection to day 242 after infection.
Scientists found that antibodies to the virus began to drop 20 days after infection.
However, they said all of the patients continued to have memory B cells that recognized one of the virus’ two components – the spike protein that helps the virus enter host cells and core proteins.
Based on their analysis, the researchers said that these virus-specific memory B cells were stably present for up to eight months after infection.
Scientists believe the results give hope for the effectiveness of any vaccine against the virus and also explain why there have been very few examples of genuine reinfection among the millions of people who have tested positive for the virus in the world.
“These results are important because they show, definitively, that patients infected with the COVID-19 virus in fact retain immunity to the virus and the disease,” said study co-author Menno van Zelm of the department. of Monash University Immunology and Pathology.
“This has been a black cloud hanging over the potential protection that could be provided by any COVID-19 vaccine and gives real hope that once a vaccine or vaccines are developed they will provide a long-term protection, ”said van Zelm.
(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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