Antibodies against the novel coronavirus may “disappear quickly” following recovery, says a new study which assessed more than 250 Covid-19 patients up to five months post-infection.
The study, published in the journal Science Immunology, analysed 983 blood plasma samples collected from 79 hospitalised Covid-19 patients and 175 outpatients and asymptomatic people infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. According to the scientists, including Katharina Roltgen from Stanford University in the US, the IgG antibodies likely persist for longer, but also showed a slow decline even in severely ill patients who mounted very strong initial immune responses.
Based on the findings, the researchers said the levels of different types of antibodies which neutralise the coronavirus “all begin to decrease in patients after approximately the first month post-onset of symptoms.” They found a higher ratio of antibodies that react to the viral spike protein complex in patients with…