COVID-19 Immunity Isn¡¯t Permanent, Antibodies Can¡¯t Protect Forever Claims Study

Researchers across the world are trying to find a way to make our body safe from contracting SARS CoV2.

From vaccines to newer treatment and therapies, researchers are leaving no stones unturned to fight COVID-19.

Reuters

And now, a group of researchers from China and America feel that humans developing immunity against the novel coronavirus is easier said than done.

Reported first by SCMP, This is based on a study that observed hospital workers in Wuhan who were in direct contact/exposure with COVID-19 patients, in the initial stages of the outbreak, to find out if they ever developed antibodies.

Researchers discovered that one-fourth of over 23,000 collected samples could have gotten infected with the virus at some point, however, only 4 percent actually developed antibodies (as of April 2020).

COVID-19 immunity and antibody

Researchers in the past have assumed that people who have faced COVID-19 will produce antibodies that will prevent reinfection. However, the new research suggests that not everyone that has gotten infected will produce antibodies.

To the uninitiated, antibodies are basically our body¡¯s way of fighting the virus that are produced by the immune system. In some SARS patients, immunoglobulin G or IgG was found to remain in the body for nearly 12 years after infection.

However, according to Wang Xinhuan from Wuhan University¡¯s Zhongnan Hospital and scientists from the University of Texas in Galveston, this is not occurring in COVID-19 patients. Their tests revealed that four percent of health care workers and 4.6 percent of general hospital staff had the IgG antibody.

The study also highlights that COVID-19 patients with adverse symptoms produced more antibodies. However, 10 percent of the people in the study have lost antibodies from their body in a month¡¯s time.

Reuters

Researchers concluded that antibody tests aren¡¯t enough to see if someone had been infected in the past and even if they do have immunity now, the chances of it protecting them in future aren¡¯t high enough.

Researchers explain, ¡°Our findings have important implications for herd immunity, antibody-based therapeutics, public health strategies, and vaccine development. The idea of an immune certificate for recovered COVID-19 patients is invalid.¡±