5 ms·

I can't find the reference, but there was a recent dutch preprint on a study from 1985-2020, studying four other coronaviruses and reinfection. Immunity lasted

by graeme 6y ago

I can't find the reference, but there was a recent dutch preprint on a study from 1985-2020, studying four other coronaviruses and reinfection. Immunity lasted 6-12 months, reinfection was correlated with symptoms. Unclear if symptoms were as severe, or merely symptomatic. Antibodies 50% gone by six months, 75% by a year. Also highly seasonal, for what it's worth. Only 10 patients, all in the Netherlands, but a long study period.

koheripbal 6y ago
This is one of the interesting things about Coronaviruses, in general. They don't mutate nearly as much as influenza viruses - but they also don't have to because they can re-infect people anyway (albeit usually to a lesser degree). The vaccine will be interesting to see. There's a fair chance it will confer some immunity, but that those infected will may get a little sick.
blueblimp 6y ago
This isn't the one you're thinking of, but it has similar conclusions: https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/04/27/1000569/how-long-are-people-immune-to-covid-19/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/04/27/1000569/how-long.... "They found that people frequently got reinfected with the same coronavirus, even in the same year, and sometimes more than once. Over a year and a half, a dozen of the volunteers tested positive two or three times for the same virus, in one case with just four weeks between positive results."
- isoprophlex 6y ago
  Well, that doesn't bode well for vaccine development, or does it?
  - hjnilsson 6y ago
    If everyone is vaccinated, immunity will expire at different times (and partial immunity is definitely a thing). This means the disease will be much less contagious, and join the corpus of all other viruses out there that can cause serious disease, but it will be rare. For most people it will just be another variant of the common cold. The vaccine will also be included in the annual vaccine cocktail for the elderly. So they will be immune. Since elderly account for 90%+ of deaths the disease will then be much less scary with <0.01% mortality (which is higher than say, driving a car to work).
  - disabled 6y ago
    Identifying the antibodies involved with COVID-19 was a major step towards developing a vaccine. However, if you get antibodies from somebody who had COVID-19, then it does not confer you immunity. Those antibodies do not give your body a memory effect that allows your body, on its own, to respond to the infection as a preventative measure for COVID-19. What it does though, for people who are actively infected with COVID-19, is reduce the severity of the infection. The influx of antibodies are believed to "neutralize" the COVID-19 virus already present in the body, by binding to the virus itself.
oxymoron 6y ago
SARS-COV-2 is more closely related to SARS-COV-1 than to other HCOVs, and the original SARS triggers longer lasting immunity (1year+). We don’t know if that’s the case for SARS-COV-2, but at least it’s an open possibility. Encouragingly, there seems to be a degree of cross-immunity between HCOV’s. This paper touches on the possible implications: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6493/860 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6493/860

by graeme 6y ago

koheripbal 6y ago

This is one of the interesting things about Coronaviruses, in general. They don't mutate nearly as much as influenza viruses - but they also don't have to because they can re-infect people anyway (albeit usually to a lesser degree). The vaccine will be interesting to see. There's a fair chance it will confer some immunity, but that those infected will may get a little sick.

blueblimp 6y ago

This isn't the one you're thinking of, but it has similar conclusions: https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/04/27/1000569/how-long-are-people-immune-to-covid-19/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/04/27/1000569/how-long.... "They found that people frequently got reinfected with the same coronavirus, even in the same year, and sometimes more than once. Over a year and a half, a dozen of the volunteers tested positive two or three times for the same virus, in one case with just four weeks between positive results."

isoprophlex 6y ago
Well, that doesn't bode well for vaccine development, or does it?
- hjnilsson 6y ago
  If everyone is vaccinated, immunity will expire at different times (and partial immunity is definitely a thing). This means the disease will be much less contagious, and join the corpus of all other viruses out there that can cause serious disease, but it will be rare. For most people it will just be another variant of the common cold. The vaccine will also be included in the annual vaccine cocktail for the elderly. So they will be immune. Since elderly account for 90%+ of deaths the disease will then be much less scary with <0.01% mortality (which is higher than say, driving a car to work).
- disabled 6y ago
  Identifying the antibodies involved with COVID-19 was a major step towards developing a vaccine. However, if you get antibodies from somebody who had COVID-19, then it does not confer you immunity. Those antibodies do not give your body a memory effect that allows your body, on its own, to respond to the infection as a preventative measure for COVID-19. What it does though, for people who are actively infected with COVID-19, is reduce the severity of the infection. The influx of antibodies are believed to "neutralize" the COVID-19 virus already present in the body, by binding to the virus itself.

oxymoron 6y ago

SARS-COV-2 is more closely related to SARS-COV-1 than to other HCOVs, and the original SARS triggers longer lasting immunity (1year+). We don’t know if that’s the case for SARS-COV-2, but at least it’s an open possibility. Encouragingly, there seems to be a degree of cross-immunity between HCOV’s. This paper touches on the possible implications: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6493/860 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6493/860