Corona infection can recur within 50 days: Study

New delhi date. 28 August 2020, Friday

Much research has been done around the world on immunity and antibodies to the corona virus. Now a new study on antibodies has been done by doctors in India. The study was conducted on the affected healthcare staff of Korona of JJ Group of Hospitals in Mumbai. According to the study, Covid-19 antibodies remain in the body for up to two months.

The doctor in the study said that in a study of 801 health workers at JJ, GT and St. George's Hospital, 28 people tested positive for corona in the RT-PCR test. The tests were performed in late April and early May. A survey conducted in June found the absence of antibodies in the bodies of these 25 infected people.

The hospital's CERO survey also included 34 people who tested positive for corona in the RT-PCR test three to five weeks ago. "Three weeks ago, antibodies were found in the bodies of 90 per cent of the infected people," the doctor said. Five weeks ago, only 38.5 per cent of the infected people had antibodies in their bodies.

Discussions of covid antibodies have been on the rise since the ongoing vaccine trial in India and the first documented case of a second outbreak in Hong Kong. Antibodies work to prevent re-infection in patients once they have been infected.

The doctor conducted a second antibody survey on some staff in June in conjunction with a foundation and JJ Hospital. The survey found that one in 10 employees was CERO positive, meaning they had been exposed to the virus before. The results of this survey also show that antibodies are rapidly declining. "These results indicate that the vaccine strategy needs to be re-worked," the doctor said.

The study's researchers said that several doses would need to be given instead of one dose of the vaccine. Previous studies have shown that asymptomatic patients do not have the same levels of antibodies as patients with severe or symptomatic corona.

Earlier, several researchers believed that patients with Covid-19 developed immunity and could not be re-infected. A second infection in Hong Kong proves that antibody levels in some people drop after a few months. The strongest immunity is found in people who have become seriously ill with Covid-19. However, it is still unclear how long this protection lasts and how long immunity can last.

"Patients who have prolonged corona symptoms have antibodies for at least three to four months," said an epidemiologist from the Public Health Foundation of India.

Maria Van Kerkhov, president of technology at the World Health Organization, says that patients with mild symptoms have an immune response to the infection, but it is not yet known how strong this immune response is and how long it lasts. "It's important to keep an eye on cases like Hong Kong, but to reach any conclusion would be a hasty decision," said Van Kerkhov. He said that during the studies, attempts are made to understand the type of infection in the patient and the neutralizing antibody of the cured patient.

Even in India, people are wondering what is the risk of corona once infected. A professor associated with the Department of Internal Medicine at PGI says the presence of a new virus strain could re-infect a patient. The professor said, 'There are two different things- infection and disease. Infection can occur when the virus reaches inside the body. Illness occurs when the virus begins to multiply and controls your immune response. '

"The virus can be present in the body even when the patient's immune system is overwhelmed by the antigen," says the professor. The mere presence of the virus in the nasal cavity of your nose cannot in fact identify the disease until the person has a symptom. '

The professor says, 'This virus mutates very quickly. If the virus is mutated and a new strain has developed, you may be re-infected. This is also seen in South Korea and China. But how many of them go into serious illness is still unclear, as the number is much lower. '