Covid-19 antibodies from a previous infection could significantly reduce the risk of being re-infected, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
“The results of the study are practically a 10-fold reduction, but I would have warnings in that regard. In other words, it could be an overestimation of the reduction, it could be an underestimation of the reduction,” said Dr. Douglas Lowy, senior deputy director. of the National Cancer Institute, who was the author of the study.
“For me, the big message is – there is a discount,” he said. The main type of food is that being a positive antibody after the natural infection is associated with a partial protection against a new infection.
How they did the study: The researchers looked at data on more than 3.2 million people in the United States who completed an antibody test last year between January and August.
Of those tested, 11.6% tested positive for Covid-19 antibodies and 88.3% tested negative.
- 0.3% of those with antibodies tested positive for Covid-19 infection later, after 90 days.
- 3% of those without antibodies tested positive for reinfection in the same period of time.
But more research is needed to determine a causal relationship, how long the protection against antibodies and the risk of reinfection in a variant can last.