COVID Survivors Still at Risk of Infection from Variants

COVID survivors might get re-infected with SARS-CoV-2 variants as the antibodies tend to decrease over time in some people.

As India is approaching the end of the second wave of COVID-19, the higher transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 variants is raising concern among healthcare professionals. Researchers now say that COVID survivors are still at risk of infection by variants.

A study led by Johns Hopkins School of Medicine found that patients who got infected with SARS-CoV-2 variants were less likely to asymptomatic. Meanwhile, the current research conducted by the University of Oxford, in collaboration with the Universities of Liverpool, Sheffield, Newcastle, and Birmingham, reported that the immune response created for the original SARS-CoV-2 strain might not be strong enough to fight against the alpha and beta variants.

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‘Immune response triggered by the original SARS-CoV-2 strain might not be effective to fight against the alpha and beta variants. People who had asymptomatic COVID-19 did not secrete antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 variants in measurable levels.’

“We found that individuals showed very different immune responses from each other following Covid-19, with some people from both the symptomatic and asymptomatic groups showing no evidence of immune memory six months after infection or even sooner,” said Christina Dold, from the University of Oxford.

The team enrolled a total of 86 participants, of which 78 were healthcare workers who had symptomatic/asymptomatic infection, and 8 were patients who had a severe infection of COVID-19. They also evaluated the antibody levels of the participants continuously for six months post-infection.

The results showed that patients who had asymptomatic COVID-19 did not secrete a detectable level of antibodies, whereas most people who had symptomatic infection secreted them. Only around 26% of people in this group were unable to secrete measurable levels of antibodies.

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“Our study is one of the most comprehensive accounts of the immune response following Covid-19 in both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals. It is very important that we all get the Covid vaccine when offered even if you think you may have previously had Covid-19,” added Dold.

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Source-Medindia

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