Covid: Antibodies 'fall rapidly after infection'

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Motherwit

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Levels of protective antibodies in people wane “quite rapidly” after coronavirus infection, say researchers.

Antibodies are a key part of our immune defences and stop the virus from getting inside the body’s cells.

The Imperial College London team found the number of people testing positive for antibodies has fallen by 26% between June and September.

They say immunity appears to be fading and there is a risk of catching the virus multiple times.

The news comes as figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the number of Covid-19 deaths in the UK rose by 60% in the week of 16 October.

The ONS figures suggest there have now been more than 60,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.

More than 350,000 people in England have taken an antibody test as part of the REACT-2 study so far.

In the first round of testing, at the end of June and the beginning of July, about 60 in 1,000 people had detectable antibodies.

But in the latest set of tests, in September, only 44 per 1,000 people were positive.

It suggests the number of people with antibodies fell by more than a quarter between summer and autumn.

 
Motherwit said:
They say immunity appears to be fading and there is a risk of catching the virus multiple times.
Click to expand...
…one might read this and come to the conclusion that the herd immunity strategy may not be as effective as thought before.
 
ThinkingSapien . . .
…one might read this and come to the conclusion that the herd immunity strategy may not be as effective as thought before.
Click to expand...
But this could also point to a vaccine strategy may not be as effective as thought before as vaccines depend upon antibody responses.

It also does not consider that T-Cell immunity is being ignored here. Admittedly much unknown as to the epidemiologic aspects of T-Cell immunity in the face of corona virus.

The OP article also ignores the conclusion (also from the BBC), that “so far, reinfection seems to be rare - there have been only a few examples out of more than 37 million confirmed cases.”

Some people in the media WANT bad news,
and so you do not get a well-rounded view from some sources.
 
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