Novel coronavirus was, until a few months ago, a virus that was never been observed in humans and, for this reason, it was poorly known. One of the questions of doctors and scientists has been, from the very beginning of this pandemic, if all the people infected with COVID-19 could develop antibodies. This question has now an answer thanks to the research published a few days ago in the prestigious journal Nature Medicine by Chinese scientists (Long et al, 2020). Let’s see the results of the research and the possible consequences.
Coronavirus, all sick people develop antibodies
The researchers have analyzed the immune response of 285 patients infected with COVID-19. Well, after 19 days from the first symptom onset, all the 285 patients had in their blood IgG antibodies, or immunoglobulins G. These antibodies are developed by the body after some weeks from infection and stay for a long period.
Coronavirus, the meaning of the research
According to the authors of the research, this result is very important since it allows to use the tests for antibodies IgG in the fight against coronavirus. In particular, it could be useful to include the antibody test in addition to the tampons for the diagnosis of the suspected cases. Sometimes, indeed, the tampons could give a negative result although the virus is in the body. Moreover, the antibody tests may be useful to find the asymptomatic persons.
Coronavirus, may antibodies found in blood of people already infected with COVID-19 guarantee immunity?
To this question there is, to date, no answer. Indeed, the article in question doesn’t say anything about the possibility that a person that has been already infected with COVID-19 could become sick again. The hope is that antibodies may give a protection, for, at least, 12-24 months like similar viruses. However, some researches state that infected people have been infected again. On the contrary, other studies state that these were just false positive. For this reason, now, it is not possible to give an answer.
