New Study finds that antibodies decline in COVID recovered patients

A new research concluded in Britain has found that people who recovered from coronavirus and developed antibodies are loosing majority of the antibodies within three weeks. The study titled “Longitudinal evaluation and decline of antibody response in SARS-CoV-2 infection” says that since the disease in new, most of the information is still coming everyday as more and more people are infected.

The study said that most of antibodies test conducted were within 10-15 days of the COVID symptoms. However, the lifespan of the antibodies is still to be determined and whether the antibodies will be able to protect the body from re-infection. The study included 90 subjects who were patients and healthcare workers and were tested after 6 days from the onset of the symptoms.

The results were profound as out of 60% of the people who showed antibody response to the virus only 17% had potent antibodies after three months. This shows that antibodies decline with time. The timespan of the virus is determined by how high the antibodies peak was in the human body.

This could mean that the vaccine could also provide a short tern immune response like the antibodies and thus would require an annual vaccine like the flu instead of a single dosage.

The study said that the results of the study show that vaccine or herd immunity may be the only way to eradicate COVID-19 and even that may not be guaranteed as the efficacy of the vaccine is still not determined.