Indian-Origin Researcher's Study Says COVID-19 Immunity Lasts For 5-7 Months

A new study suggests that immunity against COVID-19 may last for at least five months after being infected with the disease. The new research on SARS-CoV-2 virus has been conducted by an Indian-origin researcher in the US.

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Now published in the journal Immunity, the new study by the researchers from the University of Arizona examines the production of antibodies from a sample of around 6,000 SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. Based on the observations, it concludes that the antibodies against the novel coronavirus disease are prevalent in the human body for long after the disease is over.

"Many concerns have been expressed about immunity against COVID-19 not lasting. We used this study to investigate that question and found immunity is stable for at least five months" said Deepta Bhattacharya, associate professor at the University of Arizona.

"We clearly see high-quality antibodies still being produced five to seven months after SARS-CoV-2 infection," the professor added.

The study highlights the two types of antibodies produced in response to an infection. Upon the initial infection of the cells, the immune system produces short-lived plasma cells that further generate antibodies to immediately fight the virus. Post the infection, the next stage of immune response results in long-lived plasma cells that produce high-quality antibodies to provide lasting immunity.

It is the latter that the researchers found to be present in the body of those infected with the disease for months to follow. The scientists discovered viable levels of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies present in blood tests for at least five to seven months.

The researchers, however, believe that the immunity lasts much longer than the presence of antibodies.

The new approach

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Similar studies have been conducted in the past but bore different conclusions. Some of them observed that such antibodies are short lived in the human body once the infection is overcome.

Bhattacharya, however, believes that those studies focused on the short-lived plasma cells and hence observed a drop in the level of antibodies in the body. The studies failed to account for long-lived plasma cells that produce the more powerful antibodies.

"The latest time-points we tracked in infected individuals were past seven months, so that is the longest period of time we can confirm immunity lasts," Bhattacharya said.

Bhattacharya also cites the immunity developed from similar such diseases to prove his point. "If SARS-CoV-2 is anything like the first one, we expect antibodies to last at least two years, and it would be unlikely for anything much shorter," Bhattacharya said.