What is the duration of the antibodies against Covid? An answer that comes from a study conducted at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan. Neutralizing antibodies to the virus SARS-CoV-2 persist in patients for at least eight months after the diagnosis of Covid-19. This, regardless of the severity of the disease, the age of the patients or the presence of other pathologies. Those who fail to produce them within the first fifteen days of infection are at greater risk of developing severe forms of Covid-19. These are the two main results of the larger Italian study on this topic, conducted bySan Raffaele Hospital in Milan, in collaboration with the Higher Institute of Health (Iss). The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.
And while every aspect of the pandemic and the effects of the infection is studied, the spread of the virus in our country is constantly monitored. According to ministerial sources, in the last 24 hours in Italy they have registered 6.946 new positive cases (yesterday 5.080). The new deaths are 251 (yesterday 198). The discharged healed today are 16.503 (yesterday 15.063); altogether the positive cases are 363.859, 9.811 cheaper than yesterday. In the intensive care units they are hospitalized 2.056 Covid patients (2.158 yesterday), while in home isolation they still remain 346.866 people infected with the virus (356.085 yesterday). The molecular and antigenic swabs carried out in the last 24 hours are 286.428 (yesterday 130.000).
Antibodies against Covid
The study followed 162 SarsCoV2 positive patients over time, of which 67 percent were males with an average age of 63 years. Subjects with symptoms of varying severity who presented themselves to the San Raffaele emergency room during the first wave of the pandemic. The first blood samples were collected in March-April 2020, while the last at the end of November 2020. 57 percent of the patients studied suffered from a second disease, in addition to Covid-19 at the time of diagnosis. Including hypertension (44%) e diabetes (24%) the most frequent.
Out of 162 patients, 134 were hospitalized. It was thus seen that the presence of neutralizing antibodies, although reducing over time, was very persistent. Eight months after diagnosis there were only three patients who no longer showed positivity to the test, and this regardless of the age of the patients or the presence of other pathologies. Seventy-nine percent of the patients involved in the study produced these antibodies within the first two weeks of starting symptoms. From the data analyzed, the researchers also verified that the reactivation of pre-existing antibodies to seasonal coronaviruses (such as those of the cold) does not slow down the production of antibodies specific to SarsCoV79. It is also not associated with an increased risk of severe Covid-2.
