Yet the new study, which has not been peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal, analyzes many parts of immune memory over time: antibodies, B cells and T cells, among other immune system traits.
The study included 185 adults aged 19 to 81 in the United States who had recovered from Covid-19. Most adults had mild disease.
Researchers from the University of California, San Diego and the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, and the Icahn School of Medicine in Mount Sinai, analyzed blood samples collected at various locations after the onset of symptoms, some collected more than six months later. .
In the blood samples, the researchers examined the components of immune memory. They found that the antibodies were “durable,” with only a “moderate reduction” in six to eight months, but noted that the level of antibody response in adults ranged about 200 times.
Researchers also found that memory B cells were found in almost all Covid-19 cases, and that memory B cells increased over time. The researchers wrote in their study that “B-cell memory for some other infections is longer, including 60+ years after the smallpox vaccination or 90+ years after being infected with influenza.”
The researchers identified two types of T cells and their data suggest that “T cell memory may reach a more stable platelet or slow decay stage, up to 6 months after subsequent infection.”
This study comes with limitations, requiring more research to determine whether similar findings emerge in a larger group of people on longer time issues.
“This variation may be due to some individuals with very low levels of asymptomatic infection. It is expected that previously infected individuals with a low immune memory response will be susceptible to re-infection with SARS-CV-2,” Young said. , Which was not included in the new study.
“But the important message from home is that the immune response to the virus lasts longer than previously thought, and this continues to give us hope that an effective vaccine will be able to provide continued protective immunity.”
It remains to be seen how long you will live.
When it comes to other viruses, a bout of measles usually leaves someone immune for life – this effect is known as a restricted immune system. The same was true for smallpox, before the virus was eradicated in the 1970s by a global vaccination campaign. And proper vaccination against measles and smallpox completely protects against infection.
But respiratory viruses like influenza are difficult. People can catch the flu frequently and the flu vaccine usually provides only partial protection against infection and serious illness. Part of this is due to the tendency for the flu to change.
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