A newly released study conducted by Emory University suggests recovered COVID-19 patients possess long-term immunity to the respiratory virus months after infection.<\/p>\n
Published in Cell Reports Medicine, the comprehensive study analyzed 254 individuals with mostly mild to moderate symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection over an eight-month period and found that patients possessed durable broad-based immune responses to the virus after recovering from an infection.<\/p>\n
The study serves as a framework to define and predict long-lived immunity to SARS-CoV-2 after natural infection, said Emory Vaccine Center director Rafi Ahmed. We also saw indications in this phase that natural immunity could continue to persist. Ahmed served as a lead author on the study.<\/p>\n
The study goes on to note that in response to an active infection in the body, the human immune system produces a multitude of neutralizing antibodies, while also activating certain T and B cells to establish immune memory. Ahmed denotes that these developments make a strong case for some form of lasting immunity to the virus.<\/p>\n
We saw that antibody responses, especially IgG antibodies, were not only durable in the vast majority of patients but decayed at a slower rate than previously estimated, which suggests that patients are generating longer-lived plasma cells that can neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, he said.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the analysis also demonstrates that not only are recovered patients likely to possess lasting immunity to existing SARS-COV-2 variants, but that SARS-CoV-2 infection also boosts antibody titers to SARS-CoV-1 and common betacoronaviruses.<\/p>\n
While pre-existing exposure and antibodies against HKU1 and OC43 betacoronaviruses are common in adults, pre-existing SARS-CoV-1 exposure is rare and antibody levels to SARS-CoV-1 spike protein were very low (essentially negative) in the pre-pandemic healthy controls, the study says. However, SARS-CoV-1 spike-reactive antibodies increased significantly after SARS-CoV-2 infection.<\/p>\n
The report later goes on to conclude that taken together, the results of the study suggest that broad and effective immunity may persist long-term in recovered COVID-19 patients.<\/p>\n
The studys participants are expected to be evaluated by the Emory research team over the next few years as part of continued research on the matter.<\/p>\n
Shawn Fleetwood is an intern at The Federalist and a student at the University of Mary Washington, where he plans to major in Political Science and minor in Journalism. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n
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Study: Recovered COVID-19 Patients Possess Robust Immunity to Virus - The Federalist<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A newly released study conducted by Emory University suggests recovered COVID-19 patients possess long-term immunity to the respiratory virus months after infection. Published in Cell Reports Medicine, the comprehensive study analyzed 254 individuals with mostly mild to moderate symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection over an eight-month period and found that patients possessed durable broad-based immune responses to the virus after recovering from an infection. The study serves as a framework to define and predict long-lived immunity to SARS-CoV-2 after natural infection, said Emory Vaccine Center director Rafi Ahmed. Continue reading