Mild COVID-19 infection can induce lasting anitbodies: Study

NEW DELHI: Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine, United States of America (USA), found that after months of recovering from mild COVID-19 infection, people will still have produced immunity cells which induce antibodies against the coronavirus. The study was published on Monday, May 24, in the journal ‘Nature’ and suggests that people infected with COVID-19 have lasting antibodies and repeated illness is uncommon.

The researchers found the antibody producing cells in people after 11 months of showing the first symptoms. These cells will remain in the body and produce antibodies for the rest of their lives and will have long lasting immunity, researchers said. The cells are present in the bone marrow and they continuously secrete low levels of antibodies in the bloodstream to help protect against the virus.

The team had 77 participants who gave their blood samples within three-month intervals, starting a month after they first got infected. The researchers obtained the bone marrow of the 18 participants after seven to eight months of first infection. For the purpose of comparison, the researchers also collected the bone marrow from 11 more people who never had COVID-19 infection.

The study found that antibody in the blood of COVID-19 patients dropped in the first few months after the first infection and then levelled off while some antibodies were detected even 11 months after the infection.