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Covid-19 and immunity: having been sick protects ... but little time

2020-10-27T20:59:58.802Z


British study confirms what researchers suspected: being infected with coronavirus does not ensure immunityCaroline, a 41-year-old Parisian, thought she was done with this "damn virus", she who had had Covid-19 at the beginning of March. The young woman, self-employed in the field of marketing, fell ill two weeks ago. “The symptoms weren't quite the same as I was mainly aching this time around but I had no doubts as a new test declared me positive. “Getting sick again after having been infected with th


Caroline, a 41-year-old Parisian, thought she was done with this "damn virus", she who had had Covid-19 at the beginning of March.

The young woman, self-employed in the field of marketing, fell ill two weeks ago.

“The symptoms weren't quite the same as I was mainly aching this time around but I had no doubts as a new test declared me positive.

“Getting sick again after having been infected with the virus for the first time is therefore quite possible.

And even more common than one might think.

A new study published on Tuesday confirms that definitive immunity to the coronavirus does not exist.

Conducted by Imperial College London and the Ipsos Mori Institute, it was carried out from June 20 to September 28 on 350,000 people who tested themselves regularly to see if they had antibodies to Covid-19.

Conclusion: immunity to the virus "decreases quite rapidly" in patients who are cured after having been affected for the first time.

Mostly true in the elderly

The proportion of antibodies in people who test positive for the virus decreases by 22.3% over the three months.

All age groups are affected but the oldest are more sensitive to it: between June and September, the proportion of people over 75 with antibodies decreased by 39%, against a drop of 14.9% for 18-24 year olds.

For virologist Wendy Barclay of Imperial College, “This new coronavirus appears to behave quite similarly to seasonal coronaviruses that have existed in humans for decades, if not hundreds of thousands of years.

You can be "re-infected every year, or every two years" because of a decline in immunity, she detailed on the Times radio.

Compromised vaccines

"This confirms what we already know", observes Frédéric Tangy, former CNRS researcher and now head of the team of the vaccine innovation laboratory at the Institut Pasteur.

The expert recognizes, however, that these new data allow us to know a little more about a virus far from having revealed all its secrets.

They also give ways to fight it more effectively.

"The research carried out by the Russians, the Chinese or the tests carried out by the American laboratory Johnson & Johnson around an adenovirus-based vaccine risk being further compromised since they are based on a memory antivirus average over time and therefore potentially ineffective after a while.

"

Frédéric Tangy now hopes that the choice of the Pasteur Institute is the right one, he who relies on the use of a modified measles vaccine to “trick” the body and make it produce antibodies against the coronavirus.

“Our hope is that this solution can provide lifelong immunization, like the measles vaccine does,” he says.

But nothing is so sure and it will take many months to know its effectiveness.

"

Faced with a possible risk of reinfection with the coronavirus, and since it is impossible for the moment to know with certainty "if the antibodies confer an effective level of immunity or, if such immunity exists, how long it lasts", Imperial College researchers remind us of the importance of continuing to respect health guidelines… even if one has already been sick and tested positive.

Source: leparis

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