Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 last at least five months

2020/11/03 Agirre Ruiz de Arkaute, Aitziber - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Medikuntza
• Biokimika
• COVID-19

Since the beginning of the pandemic, one of the repetitive questions has been the duration of the immune response against SARS-CoV2. Analyzing the data of 30.082 people, it is clear that most people who develop covid-19 in a light or medium form generate a solid response to IgG antivirus antibodies and also maintain the antibody level for at least five months. Published in the journal Science.

The antibody response to those who seriously develop the disease has already been characterized quite accurately, but it is important to also analyze the response of light and asymptomatic patients, which are the most common cases. It is not yet entirely clear whether in mild cases these antibodies protect against SARS-CoV2 reinfection and, where appropriate, how long they protect. However, given the persistence of antibodies for years and their protection against reinfection in the case of other human coronaviruses, and considering that, in case of reinfection, the disease passes very slightly, researchers consider, also in the case of SARS-CoV2, that it is very possible that antibodies protect from reinfection and, in the worst case, develop the disease in a milder way.

However, researchers have stated that antibody levels will continue to be studied for a long time to ensure their safety. In addition, they consider that, as a complement to this data, a better definition of the process of antibody association to the protein S external to the virus would help a lot to establish effective policies against the pandemic and to develop vaccines.