In the absence of confirmed cases of reinfection by SARS-CoV-2, the duration of immune protection elicited after initial infection is still unknown. This preprint describes a longitudinal analysis of antibody responses in 65 SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals. Although the magnitude of neutralizing antibody (nAb) responses correlated with disease severity, there was a rapid decline in nAb titres in most patients within 3 months after onset of symptoms. The authors argue that the transient nAb responses elicited by SARS-CoV-2 resemble those observed following seasonal coronavirus infections. However, the consequences on secondary immune responses and their ability to prevent reinfection remain to be determined.
Competing interests
The author declares no competing interests.
References
Original article
- Seow J, et al. Longitudinal evaluation and decline of antibody responses in SARS-CoV-2 infection. medRxiv. 2020 doi: 10.1101/2020.07.09.20148429. [DOI] [Google Scholar]