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Blood tests in recovered patients after COVID suggest that the body’s immunity to the disease is strong and long-lasting, writes the New York Times, citing a scientific study. The finding is consistent with another recent finding: Patients recovered from the 2002-2003 SARS pandemic, also caused by a coronavirus, still have immunity 17 years after illness.
The body’s immunity to COVID-19 disease could last for years, even decades, according to a new study, the American publication writes.
Eight months after infection, most of those who have recovered still have enough immune cells to prevent re-infection and prevent disease, study data shows. A low rate of decline in these cells in the short term, fortunately suggests that they will remain in the body for very long periods of time.
The study, available online, has yet to be published in a scientific journal. But it is the most detailed study of immune memory acquired in the aftermath of the coronavirus and, at the same time, the longest beating yet, writes NYT.
“This immunity is likely to protect the vast majority of people in the hospital or from a severe form of the disease,” said Shane Crotty, a virologist at the La Jolla Immunology Institute in California, one of the study coordinators.
Immunity 17 years after the SARS pandemic
The finding is a relief to experts, who are concerned that the immunity afforded by the SARS-CoV-2 virus is short-lived and that the vaccine will need to be repeated at certain intervals to keep the pandemic under control.
The finding is also consistent with another recent finding, namely that survivors of the SARS virus, which is also a coronavirus and caused the SARS pandemic between 2002 and 2003, still have a significant number of immune cells 17 years later. -they were cured.
Similar studies, like the one at the University of Washington, led by immunologist Marion Pepper, found immune cells produced by the body at least three months after healing.
Another recently published study found that people who were cured of COVID-19 have strong immune cells, even if the antibodies are undetectable.
A small number of infected people in this study did not gain long-term immunity after cure, likely due to the amount of coronavirus they were exposed to. But vaccines will also regulate this variable, said Jennifer Gommerman, an immunologist at the University of Toronto.
Editing: Bogdan Pacurar
