What is immunological memory to SARS-CoV-2 and can it last for more than six months after infection?
What is immunological memory to SARS-CoV-2 and can it last for more than six months after infection?
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Immunological memory is the ability of your body's immune system to recognize a foreign virus or bacteria that the body has encountered before and start an immune response. A pre-print study was released on November 16, 2020 that assesses immunological memory to the virus SARS-CoV-2 for more than six months. This study analyzed 185 COVID-19 cases in the United States, including 41 cases after 6 months post-infection. Study authors found it promising that they could measure at least three components of immune memory in 96% of cases over 5 months after symptom onset. The authors believe this implies that durable immunity to help protect against reinfection of COVID-19 could be possible in most people. No significant difference was detected between males and females, and the authors reiterated that "the magnitude of the antibody response against SARS-CoV-2 is highly heterogenous between individuals." The authors acknowledge several study limitations, such as the relatively low number of severe COVID-19 cases in their study. Additionally, there is limited data on protective immunity against the virus SARS-CoV-2 and the disease COVID-19, so the authors cannot make direct conclusions about protective immunity from their study results at the time of publication because "mechanisms of protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 are not defined in humans." More research is underway to better understand long-term immunity against COVID-19.
Immunological memory is the ability of your body's immune system to recognize a foreign virus or bacteria that the body has encountered before and start an immune response. A pre-print study was released on November 16, 2020 that assesses immunological memory to the virus SARS-CoV-2 for more than six months. This study analyzed 185 COVID-19 cases in the United States, including 41 cases after 6 months post-infection. Study authors found it promising that they could measure at least three components of immune memory in 96% of cases over 5 months after symptom onset. The authors believe this implies that durable immunity to help protect against reinfection of COVID-19 could be possible in most people. No significant difference was detected between males and females, and the authors reiterated that "the magnitude of the antibody response against SARS-CoV-2 is highly heterogenous between individuals." The authors acknowledge several study limitations, such as the relatively low number of severe COVID-19 cases in their study. Additionally, there is limited data on protective immunity against the virus SARS-CoV-2 and the disease COVID-19, so the authors cannot make direct conclusions about protective immunity from their study results at the time of publication because "mechanisms of protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 are not defined in humans." More research is underway to better understand long-term immunity against COVID-19.
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What our experts say
Immunological memory is the ability of your body's immune system to recognize a foreign virus or bacteria that the body has encountered before and start an immune response.
A pre-print study was released on November 16, 2020 that assesses immunological memory to the virus SARS-CoV-2 for more than six months. This study analyzed 185 COVID-19 cases in the United States, including 41 cases after 6 months post-infection.
Study authors found it promising that they could measure at least three components of immune memory in 96% of cases over 5 months after symptom onset. The authors believe this implies that durable immunity to help protect against reinfection of COVID-19 could be possible in most people.
No significant difference was detected between males and females, and the authors reiterated that "the magnitude of the antibody response against SARS-CoV-2 is highly heterogenous between individuals."
The authors acknowledge several study limitations, such as the relatively low number of severe COVID-19 cases in their study. Additionally, there is limited data on protective immunity against the virus SARS-CoV-2 and the disease COVID-19, so the authors cannot make direct conclusions about protective immunity from their study results at the time of publication because "mechanisms of protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 are not defined in humans." More research is underway to better understand long-term immunity against COVID-19.
Immunological memory is the ability of your body's immune system to recognize a foreign virus or bacteria that the body has encountered before and start an immune response.
A pre-print study was released on November 16, 2020 that assesses immunological memory to the virus SARS-CoV-2 for more than six months. This study analyzed 185 COVID-19 cases in the United States, including 41 cases after 6 months post-infection.
Study authors found it promising that they could measure at least three components of immune memory in 96% of cases over 5 months after symptom onset. The authors believe this implies that durable immunity to help protect against reinfection of COVID-19 could be possible in most people.
No significant difference was detected between males and females, and the authors reiterated that "the magnitude of the antibody response against SARS-CoV-2 is highly heterogenous between individuals."
The authors acknowledge several study limitations, such as the relatively low number of severe COVID-19 cases in their study. Additionally, there is limited data on protective immunity against the virus SARS-CoV-2 and the disease COVID-19, so the authors cannot make direct conclusions about protective immunity from their study results at the time of publication because "mechanisms of protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 are not defined in humans." More research is underway to better understand long-term immunity against COVID-19.
Context and background
On November 16, 2020, a pre-print study was released that assesses immunological memory to the virus SARS-CoV-2 for more than six months, which helps increase scientists' understanding of how long protective immunity may last for the disease COVID-19. This pre-print study provides additional information beyond a previous pre-print study released in July 2020, which found neutralizing antibody responses to be stable for at least 3 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Scientists are interested in how long immunological memory lasts for the virus SARS-CoV-2 that causes the disease COVID-19, as this contributes to understanding how survivors of COVID-19 can be protected from reinfection and how the general public can be protected through vaccines. More research is still being conducted on long-term immunity against COVID-19.
On November 16, 2020, a pre-print study was released that assesses immunological memory to the virus SARS-CoV-2 for more than six months, which helps increase scientists' understanding of how long protective immunity may last for the disease COVID-19. This pre-print study provides additional information beyond a previous pre-print study released in July 2020, which found neutralizing antibody responses to be stable for at least 3 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Scientists are interested in how long immunological memory lasts for the virus SARS-CoV-2 that causes the disease COVID-19, as this contributes to understanding how survivors of COVID-19 can be protected from reinfection and how the general public can be protected through vaccines. More research is still being conducted on long-term immunity against COVID-19.
