Immunity in recovered COVID-19 patients may vanish within months, study finds

*60 Percent patients having ‘potent’ antibody response at peak of Coronavirus drop to 16.7 percent of patients with antibody response in 2 months

*Research defines start of longer-term dynamics of antibody response to SARS-CoV-2

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

As several economies across the world continue to intensify efforts at curbing further spread of the novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a newly released research has found that people who have recovered from the pandemic may lose their immunity to the virus within months.

The study is said to be the first of its kind examining the antibody levels in confirmed Coronavirus patients and evaluating how they change over time, reports said.

In the study, researchers analysed immune responses of patients and healthcare workers at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ National Health Service Foundation Trust, in London, United Kingdom (UK).

They found that levels of antibodies that destroy the virus quickly declined after peaking several weeks after patients exhibited symptoms, stated the report.

The research also discovered that 60 percent of the patients had a “potent” antibody response at peak of their battle with the Coronavirus.

After about two months, however, just 16.7 percent of the patients had a potent antibody response.

According to the report, in some cases, the antibody response to the virus later became undetectable in certain patients.

Katie Doores, lead author on the study at King’s College London, in an interview with The Guardian UK, Sunday, July 12 said: “People are producing a reasonable antibody response to the virus, but it’s waning over a short period of time.

“Depending on how high your peak is, that determines how long the antibodies are staying around.”

The findings may impact how governments plan for the next phase of the pandemic and fund vaccine research and development.

AFP also reports Lawrence Young, professor of Molecular Oncology at the University of Warwick, who did not participate in the research stated that it is “an important study that starts to define the longer-term dynamics of the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2.

“It further emphasises the need for us to better understand what a protective immune response looks like if we are to develop an effective vaccine.

The virus has infected more than 12.9 million people and killed 570,220 people globally, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, United States.

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