Research addresses crucial question regarding new coronavirus
Almost all of the doctors and nurses who got mild forms of Covid-19 produced antibodies that could prevent re-infection, according to a study of hospital staff in northeastern France.
The study of 160 volunteers shows that all but one developed antibodies within 15 days of the start of the infection, said the Institut Pasteur and the university hospitals of Strasbourg in a first version of their results published before the peer review. Almost all of the staff tested had antibodies capable of neutralizing the virus within 41 days of the onset of symptoms.
Research addresses a crucial question regarding the new coronavirus: if people with Covid-19, and especially those who haven’t been seriously ill, develop antibodies that can protect them from reinfection. The World Health Organization said on April 24 that there is no evidence yet that people who have recovered and have antibodies are protected from a second infection.
“This discovery supports the use of serological tests for the diagnosis of people who have recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection,” wrote Arnaud Fontanet and his colleagues at the Institut Pasteur in the document.
More hospital staff have developed neutralizing antibodies over time, with only 79% of volunteers showing them within 20 days, compared to 98% detected after 41 days. All of them had their infection confirmed by tests when they were sick.
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