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REYKJAVIK: Antibody levels against the new coronavirus rose and then remained stable for up to four months in more than 90 percent of recovered COVID-19 patients in Iceland, according to a study published Tuesday (September 1).
In previous studies, antibody levels dropped dramatically a few months after COVID-19, raising questions about how long the immunity infection can provide.
The new finding may have implications for reinfection risks and the durability of the vaccine, said Kari Stefansson, CEO of deCode Genetics, which conducted the study.
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To get an idea of how many people in Iceland had been infected with the new coronavirus and to learn more about the immune status after recovery, the researchers measured antibody levels in more than 30,000 Icelanders.
Based on the results, they estimate that around 1% of the population had been infected.
Of that group, 56% had received a confirmed diagnosis after a standard PCR laboratory test. Another 14 percent had not been formally diagnosed but had been quarantined after exposure to the virus. In the remaining 30 percent, antibody tests revealed a previous infection.
Among the 1,215 people with a PCR-confirmed infection, 91 percent had antibody levels that rose during the first two months after diagnosis and then stabilized, the researchers reported.
The results, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, focused on a homogeneous population from a single country, so the findings may not be the same in other parts of the world with diverse populations.
Still, the study shows how careful antibody testing can determine the true prevalence of infection, Stefansson said.
An editorial that accompanied the study cautioned that it is unclear whether antibodies recovered from patients will protect them from reinfection.
However, he suggested that antibody testing can be a cost-effective alternative to infection testing alone, and may work better in surveying populations as countries seek to safely reopen their economies and schools.
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