Antibody levels found in recovered COVID-19 patients fell sharply in 2-3 months after infection for both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients, according to a Chinese study published in Nature Medicine. This raises questions about the length of any immunity against the novel coronavirus.
Published: 18 June 2020 – Clinical and immunological assessment of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections.
The median percentage decrease was more than 70% for both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. This drop happened in about 90% of patients.
Those who did not have a bad case of COVID-19 lose antibodies faster. Forty percent of asymptomatic individuals became seronegative and 12.9% of the symptomatic group became negative for IgG in the early convalescent phase.
In addition, asymptomatic individuals exhibited lower levels of 18 pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines. These data suggest that asymptomatic individuals had a weaker immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
The research, published in Nature Medicine on June 18, highlights the risks of using COVID-19 ‘immunity passports’ and supports the prolonged use of public health interventions such as social distancing and isolating high-risk groups”.
This seems to indicate that our better bet is t-cell-related therapies and vaccines and hygiene and social distancing.
– Avoid getting together with larger groups
– Stay 6-10 ten feet apart if at all possible
– clean your hands every hour