As more and more people weather infections from coronavirus, testing for the virus’ antibodies have become increasingly popular. However, medical experts have cautioned those who appear to have immune system protections against reinfection that they may not be invulnerable in the long term, as so much remains to be discovered about COVID-19.
A new study conducted in China adds to the uncertainty. Researchers from Chongqing Medical University looked at the immune systems of 74 people diagnosed with coronavirus — half of whom were symptomatic and half of whom were asymptomatic. The study found that 40 percent of the asymptomatic patients and 13 percent of the other patients lost their antibodies quickly, in as little as two months.
It’s impossible to draw any concrete conclusions from the study, in part due to its small size, but the researchers say their results do function as a warning against “immunity passports,” or the idea that those who have contracted the virus and recovered should more freely be able to travel and interact with others, compared to those that haven’t.
Dr. Anthony Fauci has echoed these concerns and discussed the risk of reinfection for those who have had the virus.
“It isn’t a uniformly robust antibody response,” he said in an interview with The Journal of the American Medical Association. “Which may be a reason why, when you look at the history of the common coronaviruses that cause the common cold, the reports in the literature are that the durability of immunity that’s protective ranges from 3 to 6 months to almost always less than a year.”
