Table of contents:
- COVID-19 patient antibodies recovered only lasted 6 months?
- How was the study conducted?
- 1,024,298
- 831,330
- 28,855
- Reports of recurrent infections and COVID-19 antibodies
Read all articles about coronavirus (COVID-19) here.
When infected with COVID-19, the immune system responds by forming antibodies. Antibodies are cells that are specifically formed to fight certain viruses, in this case the SARS-CoV-2 virus. After recovering from COVID-19, these antibodies remain in anticipation of re-infection of the same virus.
In theory, as long as the antibodies formed from the victory against COVID-19 are still in the body, the person will be immune to the second infection. The question is, how long do these antibodies last in the body? Is it enough to protect against repeated infections until the pandemic is over?
COVID-19 patient antibodies recovered only lasted 6 months?
Researcher from Oxford University said, recovered COVID-19 patients will be immune to the second infection for at least six months. The results of this study were obtained from observations on the phenomenon of recurrent infections that occur.
"We believe that, at least in the short term, most people who have recovered from COVID-19 will not catch it again," said David Eyre, a professor at Oxford University who acts as the lead researcher. He emphasized that the second COVID-19 infection was relatively rare.
Although not yet peer reviewed (peer review), the study, published on Friday (20/11), is said to be an important step in understanding COVID-19 antibodies in recovered patients. Researchers also claim that this study is the first large-scale study of how much protection natural antibodies provide against COVID-19 in people who have been infected.
How was the study conducted?
The study was conducted 30 weeks during the period April and November and looked at as many as 12,180 health workers employed at the University of Oxford Hospital. Before being observed, all participants took tests to detect the presence of COVID-19 antibodies, which indicated that they had been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. A total of 1,246 had COVID-19 antibodies and 11,052 had no COVID-19 antibodies.
After being observed for approximately 8 months, among the respondents from the group that had antibodies, none of them were symptomatic when infected during the observation period. Meanwhile, in the group without antibodies, 89 people tested positive for COVID-19 with symptoms.
The researchers stress that this observational study has not provided enough data to assess COVID-19 immunity for longer than 6 months. However, the study believes that those who come back infected with the SARS-Co-V-2 virus do not repeat the same symptoms as when they were first infected.
An earlier study of staff at Oxford University Hospital (5/11) found COVID-19 antibodies halved in less than 90 days. The study, which also hasn't been peer reviewed, says antibody levels drop more rapidly in young adults.
"From previous research, we know that antibody levels continue to decline over time, but this study shows that there is some immunity that COVID-19 patients acquire once they recover," said Eyre. Previously it was thought that natural antibodies against COVID-19 only lasted three months, but research has shown that the immune system that is formed can last longer.
They will continue to observe the same test participants to determine the factors that cause the patient's resistance to recovering from COVID-19 to be immune to a second infection, including the severity of symptoms in case of recurrent infections.
COVID-19 Outbreak updates Country: IndonesiaData
1,024,298
Confirmed831,330
Recovered28,855
DeathDistribution MapReports of recurrent infections and COVID-19 antibodies
The first case of recurrent infection was reported by Hong Kong researchers on Monday (24/8). This case happened to a man who was first infected in late March. After being declared cured, four months and a half later he was again tested positive.
This positive result raises questions about the immune system's protective resistance to COVID-19 in recovered patients. Reports of patients contracting COVID-19 twice are rare and so far not accompanied by virus identity data so it cannot be confirmed whether it is an old virus that has not disappeared or is indeed reinfection.
In this case, researchers from the University of Hong Kong revealed viral genetic data from the two infections that occurred. As a result, they found that the genetic identities of the two did not match. This confirms that the second infection is not related to the first infection because the second infection is probably caused by a different virus strain
