Coronavirus, immunity could be short-lived. I study

This is suggested by new research from the University of Amsterdam, which analyzed the frequency with which seasonal infections of four other strains of coronavirus that cause respiratory tract infections occur.

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A new study by a team of researchers from the University of Amsterdam, coordinated by Lia van der Hoek, suggests that the duration of protective immunity against the new virus Sars-CoV-2 it may be short-lived.

Experts, as described on the pages of the specialized magazine Nature Medicine, studied in detail the immunity related to four other strains of coronavirus human seasonal infections causing respiratory tract infections (HCoV-NL63, HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43 and HCoV-HKU1). Specifically, they analyzed the frequency with which seasonal infections occur coronavirus monitoring 10 healthy individuals for 35 years.

The study in detail

To carry out the study, experts from the University of Amsterdam examined 513 serum samples collected from ten healthy adult males in the city since the 1980s.

Measuring increases in antibodies against the nucleocapsid protein for each coronavirus seasonal, considered as a signal of a new infection, have shown that reinfections with the same coronavirus seasonal occurrence frequently about a year after infection initial. The authors speculate that this, like other characteristics shared by the four seasonal coronavirus strains analyzed, could be common to all human coronaviruses, including Sars-CoV-2.

This finding suggests “that caution may be needed when relying on policies that require long-term immunity, such as vaccination or natural infection to achieve herd immunity.”

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The results of the research