Getting Covid a second time. So much for Antibodies?

JP Liz V1

I was sure there was already talk of Italy and China carriers getting twice

Beasty

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

I was sure there was already talk of Italy and China carriers getting twice

Yes, along with people who understand pandemics suggesting it's not clear if the relevant people had ever been completely cured in the first place. Very much "old news"

Talisman

My niece had the virus in April. As a requirement for a job she took in May, she had to have an antibody test. The medical technician that administered the test told her that after 6 weeks the antibody levels drop off dramatically so the test they were using is only effective during that period.

I'm not a medical expert but if the antibodies are no longer detectable it stands to reason that you are no longer immune to infection.

normanoffside

Talisman wrote: »

My niece had the virus in April. As a requirement for a job she took in May, she had to have an antibody test. The medical technician that administered the test told her that after 6 weeks the antibody levels drop off dramatically so the test they were using is only effective during that period.

I'm not a medical expert but if the antibodies are no longer detectable it stands to reason that you are no longer immune to infection.

Your T Cells have memory and can quickly reproduce an immune response.

Ineedaname

There is no hard evidence of reinfection. There are plenty of anecdotal stories but they are exactly that. Anecdotes. They are not evidence of anything and can usually be explained by false positives.

Akrasia

ShineOn7 wrote: »

Jaysus

It's the New York Post, I'm sure they did a little bit of fact checking

She's also far from the first to get it twice

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/health/2020/06/24/woman-tests-positive-for-covid-19-twice-nr-baldwin-intv-vpx.cnn

Lol,
The NY Post, is not the New York Times in the same way that the Washington Times is not the same as the Washington Post

The NYPost is a a right wing tabloid rag, as is the Washington Times

bb1234567

I think if there was re-infection we would have at least a considerable number of verified accounts of it having occurred in hotspots like New York, London, Italy, Spain

Hmmzis

Talisman wrote: »

My niece had the virus in April. As a requirement for a job she took in May, she had to have an antibody test. The medical technician that administered the test told her that after 6 weeks the antibody levels drop off dramatically so the test they were using is only effective during that period.

I'm not a medical expert but if the antibodies are no longer detectable it stands to reason that you are no longer immune to infection.

Not really, the test itself is the problem.
If a sensitive enough test is used the antibodies get detected 8+ weeks after.
The problem is that there is a big difference in AB titers depending on disease severity. More severe disease, more antibodies in serum.

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/10/20-2211_article

On the other hand, the T cell response is inveresely correlated with disease severity:

https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-35331/v1

T cells kick in well before antibodies get produced, so if they did the job well there would be a lesser need for the body to produce a high volume of antibodies.

Deep Thought

A lot of people who are testing positive a second time seems to be issue with the test the 1st time