The results of a study conducted by a team of specialists from the Harvard University School of Medicine and the Department of Infectious Diseases of Massachusetts General Hospital (USA), published In the magazine Science Immunology.
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Within four months of the onset of the first symptoms of COVID-19, researchers collected blood samples from 343 patients, most of whom (93%) suffered a severe form of the disease requiring hospitalization. Scientists have studied how the different types are present in plasma Patient’s blood antibodies – proteins produced by the immune system in response to an invasion of SARS-CoV-2 – react to contact with the virus’ spike protein, with which the pathogen enters the cells. The results were compared with blood samples collected from more than 1,500 people before the pandemic began.
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It turned out that the level of antibodies of the IgG class, which judges the degree of resistance of immunity to the virus, four months after the onset of the disease remains quite high in seriously ill people.
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The activity of antibodies neutralizing the virus also almost does not decrease all this time. This means that for at least four months after the onset of COVID-19, severely ill people remain reliably protected from reinfection, the researchers said.
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As for the other two types of antibodies, IgA and IgM, which are produced faster than IgG, they practically disappear on average in two and a half months or even earlier. Therefore, if a patient has high concentrations of these antibodies in the blood, it can be concluded that he has been infected with the coronavirus in the past two months, the researchers explain.
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They believe that since the standard PCR test for coronavirus infection, which is done on the basis of a nasal swab, loses sensitivity relatively quickly, it makes sense to supplement it with an antibody test in cases where symptoms persist for a long time. This will allow detecting cases of coronavirus infection, which in a different situation could “pass under the radar”.
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