According to a recent UK study it has been found that the cellular immunity for coronavirus is present after six months in people who had mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 infections suggesting they might have some level of protection for at least that time.
Scientists presenting the findings, from 100 non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Britain, said they were reassuring but did not mean people cannot in rare cases be infected twice with the disease.
Paul Moss, a professor who co-led the study said: “While our findings cause us to be cautiously optimistic about the strength and length of immunity generated after SARS-CoV-2 infection, this is just one piece of the puzzle. There is still a lot for us learn before we have a full understanding of how immunity to COVID-19 works.”
The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed by other experts but was published online on bioRvix, analysed the blood of 100 patients six months after they had had either mild or asymptomatic COVID-19. It found that while some of the patients’ antibody levels had dropped, their T-cell response – another key part of the immune system – remained robust.
The study also found the size of T-cell response differed, and was considerably higher in people who had had symptomatic COVID-19 than those who had no symptoms when infected.
The researchers said this could be interpreted in two ways: It is possible that higher cellular immunity might give better protection against re-infection in people who had symptoms, or equally, that asymptomatic patients are better able to fight off the virus without the need to generate a large immune response.
