A recent study sponsored by Washington University School of Medicine St. Louis (WUSTL) and reported in the journal Nature finds that individuals recovering months later from mild cases of COVID-19 still have immune cells producing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19, and in fact, these cells could endure for a lifetime. The implication here is positive: that is, that once someone is infected with COVID-19, these antibodies should help protect that person, and reinfection could be uncommon.
Led by senior author Ali Ellebedy, PhD, an associate professor of pathology & immunology of medicine and of molecular microbiology, the study team found antibodies in COVID-19 patients 11 months after the first symptoms.
