Despite intense research carried out over the past year, much about Covid-19 is still unknown, especially in relation to the immune response produced by the body against infection. A study conducted in the United States and published in the journal Immunity by the University of Arizona brings good news: the presence of antibodies effective against coronavirus in the body was recurrent even after 7 months of infection among the patients followed
The research sheds new light on the topic. Several studies have shown that after an infection, several patients showed a dramatic reduction in antibodies after a period of 3 months, and some even went on to show undetectable levels in the blood. However, the new research follows a different type of immune response, different from what the first analyzes pointed out.
As the university statement explains, when the virus infects a cell, the immune system activates short-lived plasma cells, which produce antibodies to fight the virus immediately. This response appears in serological tests about two weeks after infection, but it can dissipate after a short time. What the researchers did was to follow the second stage of the response, which creates plasma cells responsible for the creation of specific long-term antibodies, creating a response against the virus of longer duration.
According to research, this second response has been shown to be viable for a period of at least five to seven months, but scientists believe that these antibodies should have an even longer life. The definitive answers about the duration of that answer should only come out with an even longer follow-up, but 7 months is already a good sign.
“The longest time after individuals was 7 months, so the longest period we can confirm. That said, we know that people infected with the first SARS coronavirus, which is the most similar to Sars-Cov-2, are still have immunity after 17 years of infection. If Sars-Cov-2 is minimally similar to the first, we expect the antibodies to last at least two years, and it would be unlikely to be less than that, “says Deepta Bhattacharya, a professor at the Faculty of University of Arizona Medicine in Tucson. The researchers believe that reinfections registered so far in a period shorter than these are exceptions and only occasional cases, and not the rule.
Although the study followed about 6,000 people, the researchers were able to detect the contagion and monitor the immune response in 200 of them, as reported by El Pas. In only 6 of the cases, the contagion was estimated to take between 5 and 7 months, however.
The research also brings some positive perspective to a possible vaccine against Covid-19, which, to be as useful as expected, would need to induce the production of a lasting response. If it were necessary to vaccinate the population every three months, the campaign could be economically and logistically unfeasible.
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