Antibodies produced in response to the coronavirus may not last more than two months, according to a study carried out by JJ Group of Hospitals, Mumbai, on the healthcare staff of the hospital.

The lead author of the study, Nishant Kumar, said in a statement cited by Times of India : “Our study of 801 healthcare staff from JJ, GT and St George’s Hospitals included 28 who had tested positive for Covid (on RT-PCR) seven weeks prior (in late April-early May).”

According to the preprint version of the study, none of the 28 hospital staff showed any antibodies in a serological survey carried out in June.

The study will appear in the September issue of the International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health .

Also read: Antibody response of Covid-19 patients may decline after recovery: Study

JJ Hospital also examined the sero survey carried on the 34 other participants who tested PCR positive for Covid-19 and sorted them into two groups: a three-week group and a five-week group.

“While 90 per cent of those in the three-week group had antibodies, less than half (38.5 per cent) in the five-week group had antibodies,’’ added Kumar.

In June, Kumar’s not-for-profit Eyebetes Foundation in partnership with State-run JJ Hospital in Byculla carried out an antibody survey on the staff of the hospital.

The survey showed that one in 10 staffers was sero-positive or had had previous exposure to the virus.

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