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A new US study suggests that people already infected with Covid-19 have developed immune cells that stay in the body for six to eight months, allowing them not to get sick again for some time.
Are we immune to the coronavirus for a long time if we have already been infected? A new American study, highlighted by the New York Times, wants to be optimistic. It was pre-released on Monday and has yet to be peer-reviewed.
Researchers at the University of California, USA, studied blood samples from 185 men and women, aged 19 to 81, who had recovered from Covid-19 and who, for the most part, had had mild symptoms. . . The team of scientists focused on four elements involved in the immune system. Namely antibodies, B cells, which produce antibodies, and two types of T cells, which destroy infected cells.
According to the study, the antibodies developed against Sars-CoV-2 would remain active for six to eight months before decreasing slightly. Likewise for T cells that decrease very little. B cells, on the other hand, are increasing, without researchers knowing how to explain it. However, such a slight decline in these cells suggests that they can persist in the body for a long time.
“Very encouraging” data
While these findings don’t allow to know precisely how long immunity to the virus lasts, they are confident and a sign of lasting immunity, the researchers say.
“Such a large amount of immunological memory would likely allow most people not to be hospitalized again and severely affected by the disease for years to come,” the New York Times Shane Crotty, a virologist who co-led the study.
For immunologist Akiko Iwasaki of the prestigious Yale University, it is “normal” for the human body to produce a lasting response to the virus. But these new figures are “very encouraging”.
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