Citizens who have contracted coronavirus acquire high-quality antibodies and, therefore, longer-term immunity to this virus, which lasts at least five to seven months, according to the latest study by scientists from the University’s School of Medicine. from Arizona in Tucson, USA, in which one of the main researchers was and Serbian prof. Dr. Janko Nikolic Zugic.
Scientists conducted a study in approximately 6,000 subjects to study antibody production after SARS-CoV-2 infection.
– Many concerns have been expressed that immunity to kovid 19 is not permanent. We used this study to investigate this problem and found that immunity was stable for at least five months. We can clearly see that high-quality antibodies are still produced five to seven months after SARS-CoV-2 infection, said Dipta Batačarja, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine, as reported by the website Futurity.org.
According to our scientist and head of the immunobiology department, Dr. Janko Nikolić Žugić, the study monitored antibody levels for several months in people who tested positive for corona.
– When a virus infects cells for the first time, the immune system uses short-lived plasma cells that produce antibodies to fight the virus immediately. These antibodies show up in blood tests within 14 days of infection. The second phase of the immune response is the creation of long-lasting plasma cells, which produce high-quality antibodies that provide longer-lasting immunity, said study co-author Dr. Nikolić Žugić, adding that his team has examined nearly 30,000 people to test for antibodies since April 30.
The researchers think that previous studies focused only on the production of antibodies from initial infections, which resulted in the conclusion that antibody levels fall very rapidly after recovery and that it was therefore thought that citizens only had short-term immunity after the virus.
DR ANA GLIGIĆ
Too early to draw conclusions
Photo: Photo: Screen Print / First
Virologist Dr. Ana Gligić says that the real data on the appearance and duration of antibodies will be known only with the passage of time.
– In my experience, the amount and duration of the antibodies depend on the method you use. Scientists have the best intentions, but everything is being done in a hurry because the priority is to curb the pandemic. Only after four years since the appearance of smallpox in our country, we received accurate data, which is still of great use to scientists in the investigation of this pandemic, but it only has to take some time – said the famous Dr. Gligić for Kurir.
PROF. DR TANJA JOVANOVIĆ
Detects the production of long-lasting antibodies.
photo: screenshot
Virologist prof. Dr. Tanja Jovanović, vice dean of regular classes at the Belgrade Faculty of Medicine, believes for Kurir that this article has demonstrated the existence of a lasting immune response to kovid.
– They discovered that low affinity antibodies are synthesized at the beginning of the infection to the S1 subunit of the most superficial viral antigen. The S1 subunit has a site that allows the virus to specifically bind to the receptor. They are important at the beginning of infection and significantly reduce the possibility of the virus attacking or infecting other cells. These antibodies are quickly lost, once the work is done, and are replaced by a high-affinity humoral response to the S2 subunit, which are long-lasting and protect against reinfection, explained Dr. Jovanović.
