Don’t Miss Out on the Latest Updates.
Subscribe to Our Newsletter Today!
Antibodies play a significant role in protecting you against any pathogen. That's why scientists have been studying their impact on the novel coronavirus that led to the global COVID-19 pandemic. A recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine assessed recovered COVID-19 patients in Iceland and found that antibodies against this virus climbed up considerably and remained steady for up to four months in 90 per cent of them. For the study, researchers carried out a survey on 30,000 COVID-19 Icelanders after they had recovered.
The findings of this research suggest that around 1 per cent of the population fell prey to the COVID-19 infection. Out of them, 56 per cent were diagnosed through the standard PCR test, 14 per cent didn't get any formal diagnosis while the remaining 30 per cent were found to have prior infection after antibody tests. This survey revealed that 91 per cent of the 1,215 people, who were diagnosed with COVID-19 through PCR, had antibodies against the infection rising for two months. According to the study authors, antibodies stabilised after the first two months.
In quite a few earlier studies, it has been found that antibodies against the novel coronavirus drop sharply within a few months of recovery from the COVID-19 infection. This raises questions about the longevity of immunity that they provide against this virus. A report published in the journal Nature conducted a survey with 37 asymptomatic and 37 symptomatic people from China through two months. They found that symptomatic patients have higher volumes of Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody that protects against bacterial and viral infections than asymptomatic patients. However, the drop of antibodies was found to be higher in symptomatic patients (96.8 per cent) compared to those without symptoms (93 per cent) during the recovery phase. This decline was observed within 2-3 months.
This is a question that has been perplexing experts. According to the findings of the World Health Organization (WHO), global evidence isn't sufficient to prove that the chance of a second infection is warded off by antibodies. This world body also found that the level of antibodies vary among COVID recovered patients. While volumes are high in some, others may have lower quantities of antibodies.
Also, a survey carried out in Amsterdam among people suffering from other strains of coronavirus that cause common cold revealed that there was a 50 per cent reduction in antibodies within a span of six months. The coronavirus patients suffered a relapse within a year. The research, which observed 10 patients for almost 35 years, found a drop of 75 per cent antibodies within a year. The researchers also found that half of the study participants had no immunity against the coronavirus after four years. Since SARS-CoV-2 is also a member of the coronavirus family and have many common features, study authors are of the opinion that the chance of COVID-19 reinfection is also very high.
Antibodies from recovered COVID-19 patients are now being used for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Referred to as plasma therapy, this treatment is seen as a ray of hope by experts and scientists.