1/8/2024 0 Comments Actionally meaningThat observation is disconcerting when experts say it is unlikely we will have a vaccine for COVID-19 within 18 months. And within a year, some people are vulnerable to reinfection. Immunity to seasonal coronaviruses (such as those that cause common colds), for example, starts declining a couple of weeks after infection. So many scientists are looking to other coronaviruses for answers. And although it appears that recovered COVID-19 patients have antibodies for at least two weeks, long-term data are still lacking. Prime Minister Boris Johnson (who has the virus and is currently in intensive care) and his government’s scientific adviser Patrick Vallance-touted hopes that herd immunity could be an eventual means for ending the pandemic. Researchers are scrambling to answer two questions: How long do SARS-CoV-2 antibodies stick around? And do they protect against reinfection?Įarly on, some people- most notably U.K. Although most people with SARS-CoV-2 seem to produce antibodies, “we simply don’t know yet what it takes to be effectively protected from this infection,” says Dawn Bowdish, a professor of pathology and molecular medicine and Canada Research Chair in Aging and Immunity at McMaster University in Ontario. On the extreme end of this spectrum, individuals infected with HIV often have large amounts of antibodies that do nothing to prevent or clear the disease.Īt this early stage of understanding the new coronavirus, it is unclear where COVID-19 falls on the immunity spectrum. Natural infection with Clostridium tetani, the bacterium that causes tetanus, on the other hand, offers no protection-and even people getting vaccinated for it require regular booster shots. With some pathogens, such as the varicella-zoster virus (which causes chicken pox), infection confers near-universal, long-lasting resistance. It is less clear what those antibody tests mean for real life, however, because immunity functions on a continuum. Widespread use of such assays could give scientists greater insight into how deadly the virus is and how widely it has spread throughout the population. Unlike diagnostic tests, which are used to confirm the presence and sometimes load, or amount, of the virus, antibody tests help determine whether or not someone was previously infected-even if that person never showed symptoms. And the effort will evolve into three national surveys of donors, supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and conducted this fall and in the fall of 2021. The World Health Organization’s Solidarity II study will pool antibody data from more than half a dozen countries. In the U.S., a collaborative multiyear project aims to provide a picture of nationwide antibody prevalence. Its first phase is already collecting samples from blood donors in six major urban areas, including New York City, Seattle and Minneapolis. Several ambitious surveys to test for these antibodies have now been launched around the globe. And in Italy, politicians want to use antibody status to determine which people will get “ back to work” passes. In Colorado, a company that makes a coronavirus antibody test has donated kits to the state’s San Miguel County so that everyone there can be tested if they want to. And it comes at a time when health experts and leaders are embracing immunity as a potential end point to the pandemic. It is the first such test to receive approval for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently granted an “ emergency use authorization” of a blood test for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
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