8 ms·

"I've heard a lot of people in my social / online circles comment how they wish they knew whether or not they had antibodies" What people need to realize is th

"I've heard a lot of people in my social / online circles comment how they wish they knew whether or not they had antibodies" What people need to realize is that the important questions are not whether you've got antibodies but: 1 - whether you'll sick when you're exposed to the virus again 2 - how sick you'll get the next time around No one knows the answers to these questions yet, and we also don't know how antibodies bear on the answers to these questions. It is possible that even with antibodies you'll still get sick if you're exposed to the virus (as we know is the case for some other diseases), and even if antibodies play some role in how sick you'll get it's possible that (again, as is the case with some diseases) repeated exposure to the virus will cause even greater illness than the first time around. People shouldn't be assuming that having antibodies means they're immune.. we just don't know enough yet to say whether that's true or not. Even if it is true, there might be a certain level of antibodies that are required to have a certain level of immunity, and we don't know yet what level of antibodies are necessary, nor the kind of antibodies necessary, Finally, even if antibodies do grant immunity, we don't know how long that immunity would last, nor if such immunity varies from person to person for some not yet known reason.

bosswipe 6y ago
If people could get reinfected we would have heard of more of those cases by now. We can be pretty sure that it confers several months of immunity at minimum.
- sroussey 6y ago
  Yes, 2-6 for sure.
- e98cuenc 6y ago
  A few days ago spanish media reported that one of the latest outbreak in Lleida affected a residence. They tested all inmates in the residence with PCR, and found 8 positives. 5 of these 8 had COVID-19 a few months ago with the first wave (I guess march / april).
sroussey 6y ago
Dengue fever antibodies make the second infection lethal.
- ezconnect 6y ago
  The Philippines found this the hard way when testing a vaccine for dengue.
- splittingTimes 6y ago
  IIRC, Dengue has 4 different strains. When you get reinfected with the same strain, then you are good. Getting one of the other strains is the problematic case.
- throwanem 6y ago
  Good thing this isn't dengue fever.
aerophilic 6y ago
As someone who was likely exposed back in March (no tests available at the time, and antibody test now is showing negative, which I don’t believe), I will anecdotally mention a few observations: 1. While you don’t get “really” sick again, you do “feel it” when re-exposed. Specifically I noticed diarrhea and a being a bit “off” on two separate instances where I believe I was Re-exposed. 2. I am 90% certain that even with immunity you remain a carrier when Re-exposed. I don’t know how much of a carrier, but just my strong suspicion (and why I have been extra careful when I have felt “off”) Would love more medical data to back my hypothesis/observations/thoughts, but thought I would mention it.
- JimBlackwood 6y ago
  Mate, no offense, but this is all personal opinion and personal guesses while you’ve actually tested negative! If I were you, have a bit less certainty in your own guesses. Next to that, every person has a different set of symptoms and experiences, your experiences aren’t all that relevant.
  - aerophilic 6y ago
    Completely agree, and have been extremely careful. I won’t go into the basis of my belief (which included 103.7 fever). My main point, and why I said anything at all is this: Even if you get infected, and get through it, there is no Scientific evidence to believe you are “in the clear” now. Hoping that is an “add” rather than a subtract from the conversation.
baxtr 6y ago
From all we know from other viruses you might get reinfected but with a very high probability you won’t get very sick. Also, note that immunity is not only AB induced. You have other immune components like T Cells in your body patrolling and reacting to pathogen. Otherwise everybody would have gotten really sick from SARS2 which is obviously not the case.
- aplummer 6y ago
  I don't believe the virus is known to behave like this to a very high probability. It's unknown but possible the virus behaves like dengue fever and gets worse the second time.
  - baxtr 6y ago
    Well it’s a corona virus. We have four other corona viruses endemic in humans. So I think it’s ok to compare it to those others
  - nkohari 6y ago
    At this point, if there was antibody-dependent enhancement, we would have seen at least one case of it clinically.
  - cesarb 6y ago
    > It's unknown but possible the virus behaves like dengue fever and gets worse the second time. That's not how dengue works. There are four variants of the dengue virus, and it gets worse the second time only if it's a different variant. Quoting Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengue_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengue_virus): "Developing a vaccine against the disease is challenging. With four different serotypes of the virus that can cause the disease, the vaccine must immunize against all four types to be effective. Vaccination against only one serotype could possibly lead to severe dengue hemorrhagic shock when infected with another serotype due to antibody-dependent enhancement. When infected with dengue virus, the immune system produces cross-reactive antibodies that provide immunity to that particular serotype. However, these antibodies are incapable of neutralizing other serotypes upon reinfection and actually increase viral replication."

bosswipe 6y ago

If people could get reinfected we would have heard of more of those cases by now. We can be pretty sure that it confers several months of immunity at minimum.

sroussey 6y ago
Yes, 2-6 for sure.
e98cuenc 6y ago
A few days ago spanish media reported that one of the latest outbreak in Lleida affected a residence. They tested all inmates in the residence with PCR, and found 8 positives. 5 of these 8 had COVID-19 a few months ago with the first wave (I guess march / april).

sroussey 6y ago

Dengue fever antibodies make the second infection lethal.

ezconnect 6y ago
The Philippines found this the hard way when testing a vaccine for dengue.
splittingTimes 6y ago
IIRC, Dengue has 4 different strains. When you get reinfected with the same strain, then you are good. Getting one of the other strains is the problematic case.
throwanem 6y ago
Good thing this isn't dengue fever.

aerophilic 6y ago

As someone who was likely exposed back in March (no tests available at the time, and antibody test now is showing negative, which I don’t believe), I will anecdotally mention a few observations: 1. While you don’t get “really” sick again, you do “feel it” when re-exposed. Specifically I noticed diarrhea and a being a bit “off” on two separate instances where I believe I was Re-exposed. 2. I am 90% certain that even with immunity you remain a carrier when Re-exposed. I don’t know how much of a carrier, but just my strong suspicion (and why I have been extra careful when I have felt “off”) Would love more medical data to back my hypothesis/observations/thoughts, but thought I would mention it.

JimBlackwood 6y ago
Mate, no offense, but this is all personal opinion and personal guesses while you’ve actually tested negative! If I were you, have a bit less certainty in your own guesses. Next to that, every person has a different set of symptoms and experiences, your experiences aren’t all that relevant.
- aerophilic 6y ago
  Completely agree, and have been extremely careful. I won’t go into the basis of my belief (which included 103.7 fever). My main point, and why I said anything at all is this: Even if you get infected, and get through it, there is no Scientific evidence to believe you are “in the clear” now. Hoping that is an “add” rather than a subtract from the conversation.

baxtr 6y ago

From all we know from other viruses you might get reinfected but with a very high probability you won’t get very sick. Also, note that immunity is not only AB induced. You have other immune components like T Cells in your body patrolling and reacting to pathogen. Otherwise everybody would have gotten really sick from SARS2 which is obviously not the case.

aplummer 6y ago
I don't believe the virus is known to behave like this to a very high probability. It's unknown but possible the virus behaves like dengue fever and gets worse the second time.
- baxtr 6y ago
  Well it’s a corona virus. We have four other corona viruses endemic in humans. So I think it’s ok to compare it to those others
- nkohari 6y ago
  At this point, if there was antibody-dependent enhancement, we would have seen at least one case of it clinically.
- cesarb 6y ago
  > It's unknown but possible the virus behaves like dengue fever and gets worse the second time. That's not how dengue works. There are four variants of the dengue virus, and it gets worse the second time only if it's a different variant. Quoting Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengue_virus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengue_virus): "Developing a vaccine against the disease is challenging. With four different serotypes of the virus that can cause the disease, the vaccine must immunize against all four types to be effective. Vaccination against only one serotype could possibly lead to severe dengue hemorrhagic shock when infected with another serotype due to antibody-dependent enhancement. When infected with dengue virus, the immune system produces cross-reactive antibodies that provide immunity to that particular serotype. However, these antibodies are incapable of neutralizing other serotypes upon reinfection and actually increase viral replication."