UK study hints at varied COVID immunity levels in victims

A recent 100 participant study led by Prof. Paul Moss at Britain’s Birmingham University has found that COVID-19 victims who had mild or asymptomatic infections of the virus carried some form of “cellular immunity” against the SARS-CoV-2 virus after six months of their diagnosis. 

The small but highly insightful study sheds some knowledge about the nature and duration of acquired immunity a COVID-19 victim may have after his infection while it does not mean that reinfections cannot happen among COVID-19 sufferers.

Scientists who conducted the study on non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Britain remarked the findings as “reassuring” with Prof. Paul Moss, the co-lead on the study stating that “while our findings cause us to be cautiously optimistic about the strength and length of immunity generated after SARS-CoV-2 infection, this is just one piece of the puzzle. There is still a lot for us to learn before we have a full understanding of how immunity to COVID-19 works.”

The study which was published online on bioRvix is yet to be peer-reviewed by other experts of the domain while few observed that the revelations were significant and would add to a growing body of knowledge about potential protective immunity to COVID-19.

The study also found that even though the initial antibody levels had dropped over a period of time in some patients, their T-cell response, another important component of the immune system remained strong.

Shame Ladhani, a consultant epidemiologist at Public Health England who co-led the work responded that “(Our) early results show that T-cell responses may outlast the initial antibody response.”

The findings show that people who had symptomatic COVID-19 bout had stronger T-cell responses compared to those who had no symptoms when infected.

Mr. Charles Bangham, Chair of Immunology at Imperial College London shared that “these results provide reassurance that, although the titer of antibody can fall below detectable levels within a few months of infection, a degree of immunity to the virus may be maintained.”