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A new study carried out by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) revealed that people who have recovered from severe symptoms of the coronavirus have long-lasting immunity against it.
The study was published in the journal Science Immunology. The study offers hope that there is a slight chance of reinfection if people have been infected with the virus.
The study also demonstrated that measuring antibodies can be an accurate tool for tracking the spread of the virus in the community.
For the study, Richelle Charles, MD, an investigator in the Division of Infectious Diseases at MGH, and her colleagues obtained blood samples from 343 patients with Covid-19, most of whom had severe cases.
The blood samples were taken for up to four months after a patient experienced the first symptom of the virus. The blood plasma was isolated and applied to laboratory plates coated with the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the virus’ ‘spike’ protein, which attaches to cells, leading to infection.
The authors of the research studied how different types of antibodies in the plasma bound themselves to RBD. The results were compared to blood samples obtained from more than 1,500 individuals prior to the pandemic.
Findings
The researchers found that the levels of the immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody remained elevated in these patients for four months, and were associated with the presence of protective neutralising antibodies. This also demonstrated a little decrease in activity over time.
Charles said: “That means that people are very likely protected for that period of time. We showed that key antibody responses to Covid-19 do persist.”
Also read: In UK, 80% of Covid patients didn’t demonstrate core symptoms: Report
Charles and her colleagues also found that people infected with SARS-CoV-2 had immunoglobulin A (IgA) and immunoglobulin M (IgM) responses that were relatively short-lived, declining to low levels within about two and a half months or less, on average.
“We can say now that if a patient has IgA and IgM responses, they were likely infected with the virus within the last two months,” says Charles.
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