According to Agence France-Presse in Paris on January 18, a research report released on the 18th stated that, thanks to cells that can “remember” the virus, people may be able to resist reinfection for at least 6 months after recovering from new coronary pneumonia.
Researchers in the United States and Switzerland conducted studies on dozens of people who have recovered from the new coronary pneumonia and found that although their antibodies may gradually disappear over time, their specific memory B cell levels can still be maintained.
According to the report, these cells can remember pathogens. So if they face re-infection, they can prompt the immune system to restart the production of antiviral antibodies.
The study, published in Nature, concluded: “The memory response prevents reinfection and is essential for effective vaccination.”
“We have observed that the response of memory B cells will not decline after 6.2 months, but will continue to develop. This shows that people infected with the new coronavirus may respond quickly and effectively to the virus after being exposed to the virus again. ”
The authors of the research report evaluated 87 patients diagnosed with new coronary pneumonia at more than one month and six months after infection. They found that although the activity of virus-neutralizing antibodies decreased over time, the number of memory B cells remained unchanged.
The researchers said that their research shows that human memory B cells targeting
coronaviruses will evolve within 6 months after infection while the remaining viral proteins are still in the human body, allowing the cells to produce stronger antibodies.
The report pointed out that how long people can resist the reinfection of the new coronavirus and the immune process involved are the keys to predicting the dynamics of this pandemic.
Previous studies have shown that neutralizing antibodies will rapidly decrease after people are infected with the new coronavirus, which has caused people’s concerns. But recent research highlights the role of other parts of the immune system in long-term immunity.
A paper published in Science in January stated that almost all major parts of the immune system that can recognize and fight off a new pathogen can continue to respond to the virus for at least 8 months.
According to the report, this includes protein spike-specific memory B cells. The researchers found that the level of these cells in the blood actually increased 6 months after infection. And the research report was based on the analysis of blood samples from 188 patients with new coronary pneumonia.
