Coronavirus antibodies will remain in the blood of infected patients for almost two months or longer after the disease is diagnosed, according to a new study. The study also did not detect antibodies in all the persons who are exposed to the virus.
The study was done by a group of researchers of the St George’s, University of London and St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in collaboration with Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Mologic Ltd. and Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Sénégal. They did the study on 177 individuals diagnosed with coronavirus infection.
In the study, the researchers measured the level of coronavirus antibodies in patients. The results showed that the levels of the antibodies remained stable for the duration of the study in patients with an antibody response. The study period was two months. The study also found that the people with the most severe infections were more likely to develop antibodies.
The researchers point out that the findings will hopefully give an answer to how long the people will remain immune once they are exposed to the deadly virus. They also said that it would give an insight into how different age and ethnic groups respond to infection.
The researchers said that the antibody stayed for a longer period in some patients as the antibody response worked in parallel with an inflammatory response to severe diseases. Another explanation is that a higher viral load could lead to greater stimulation of the inflammatory and antibody development pathways.
The researchers also found that the people who did not develop the antibodies may be because their immune response might be through some other immune response mechanism like t cells or different antigens. The researchers also mentioned that another chance is that mild infections may be restricted to particular location in the body like within mucosal cells of the respiratory tract.
With respect to antibody response and different characteristics, the researchers said that non-white ethnicity was associated with a higher antibody response. They also said that older people and those having other conditions like hypertension and overweight also had a higher antibody response.
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