Young people are more at risk of contracting Covid a second time after recovering from it: this is the main evidence of an analysis conducted by UOMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh on young adults recovered from mild or moderate forms of Covid. -19, published in medRxiv (pre-peer review).
The study involved 173 patients between the ages of 19 and 79, who had recovered from mild or moderate forms of the disease for several weeks. Laboratory analyzes showed that the antibodies were able to neutralize the virus, and that higher antibody levels were associated with greater neutralizing activity. The researchers also observed that the level of antibodies in the patients did not depend on the time elapsed since the infection. When the researchers divided the participants into different age groups, something surprising emerged: Patients under 30 produced lower levels of antibodies than all other age groups.
“Many people think they shouldn’t get vaccinated because they are already cured of Covid-19,” said John Alcorn, Ph.D., professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Upmc Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. “Our study suggests that some patients, especially young people, do not have particularly good antibody memory after infection. For them, immune strengthening with vaccination is critical.” During the SarS-CoV-2 infection, our immune system – a note recalls – produces specific antibodies to neutralize the virus, and memory B cells that remain in the bloodstream helping to fend off a second infection originating from the same pathogen.
“Some people, particularly young people, don’t respond particularly well in terms of immune memory. These people may not be sufficiently protected from a second infection,” explains Alcorn. “But now we have a tool – vaccines – that can induce immune responses and increase protection. This study adds further evidence to the recommendation that even people cured of Covid-19 should get vaccinated. “
Previous studies had shown that disease severity correlates with higher antibody levels, so the researchers speculated that the low antibody response in the under 30s was linked to having contracted a milder form of the virus than in older patients. To validate this hypothesis, the team analyzed the patients’ medical records. Using disease duration as a benchmark for determining its severity, the researchers noted that people under the age of 45 were found to be less ill than older patients. “But even though people under 30 and people between 31 and 45 years old had similar levels of disease severity and the same duration of symptoms, the antibody levels were significantly different between the two categories,” comments Alcorn. “These findings suggest that the severity of the disease could affect a person’s level of protection, but it doesn’t explain everything.”
Alcorn and his team – concludes the note – plan to follow the same patients to measure the variation in the levels of neutralizing antibodies over a longer period of time; Since some patients in the study have since been vaccinated, the researchers will also be able to compare antibody levels in those who are immunized versus those who are not.
#Covid #among #risk #infection #recovered #study