People healed from Covid-19 have more defenses if reinfected

Washington, Nov. 8 (Prensa Latina) People who have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus develop faster and more effective defenses against the disease in case of reinfection, as is known.

According to a study from Rockefeller University in the United States, the immune system can remember Covid-19 and improve the quality of antibodies after the first infection has passed.

The research, published in the BioRxiv preprints repository, indicates that this reaction occurs due to the T lymphocytes, which are in charge of searching for and destroying the infected ones; and also to B cells, responsible for the production of specific immunoglobulins of antibodies.

“Such memory B cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 evolve between one and a half to six months after infection consistent with persistence of the antigen,” the scientists said.

The researchers noted that the number of memory B cells does not decrease over time, but instead exhibits clonal turnover after nearly six months and produces antibodies with greater somatic hypermutation.

These cells also have greater potency and resistance to mutations in the receptor binding domain (RBD), the hook with which the new coronavirus is able to adhere to the cell wall, the experts explained.

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