Covid-19 antibodies last at least 9 months after infection-News

Researchers found that 9 months after being infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, antibody levels are still high, whether symptomatic or asymptomatic.

Researchers from the University of Padua (Italy) and Imperial College London tested SARS-CoV-2 infection on more than 85% of the 3,000 Vo’ residents in Italy in February 2020/March 2020 Antibodies against the virus in November and November 2020.

The research team found that 98.8% of people infected in February/March showed detectable antibody levels in November, and there was no difference between those with Covid-19 symptoms and those without symptoms. The results were published in the journal Nature Communications.

In addition, although all antibody types showed a certain degree of decline between May and November, the rate of attenuation is different, depending on the test that tracks antibody levels.

The research team also found that some people have elevated antibody levels, which indicates that they may be infected with the virus again, thereby strengthening the immune system.

Lead author Ilaria Dorigatti of the MRC Global Center said: “We did not find evidence of significant differences in antibody levels between symptomatic and asymptomatic infections, indicating that the strength of the immune response does not depend on the severity of symptoms and infection. “Imperial College’s infectious disease analysis.

“However, our research does show that antibody levels vary depending on the test used, sometimes significantly different. This means that you need to be cautious when comparing estimates of infection levels in people using different tests and at different times in different parts of the world. ,” Dorrigati added.

The team also investigated the infection status of family members. They found that people infected with SARS-CoV-2 have a probability of passing the infection to family members about a quarter, and that most transmissions (79%) are caused by 20% of infections.

This finding confirms that there are large differences in the number of secondary cases produced by infected persons, most infections will not produce further infections, and a few infections will produce a large number of infections.

Researchers say this shows that behavioral factors are the key to epidemic control. Keeping physical distance and limiting the number of contacts and wearing masks are still important to reduce the risk of spreading the disease, even in the vaccinated population.