In addition to T cells, antibodies also play an important role. If there are enough antibodies and they are active enough, they can neutralize the virus and not infect anyone again. Various studies now show that this immunity is short-lived by antibodies.
It has previously been shown that people who experience a mild variant of covid-19 do not make many antibodies. “That makes sense,” says Marjolein van Egmond, professor of immunology at Amsterdam UMC and spokesperson for the Dutch Immunology Association. “A mild infection often produces a less strong immune response.”
About the rapid disappearance of antibodies from the blood, Van Egmond says: “Obviously you would have preferred it differently, that those antibodies remain at the same level for two years and protect people against contamination. But that does not necessarily mean that it does not necessarily mean that that those people didn’t build up immunity to covid-19 when they had the disease. “
Memory response
And that’s where the third element of the immune system comes into play. When you contract such an infection, the immune system also builds up a memory response. When the virus enters the body for the second time, the memory of the learned immune system is activated, producing antibodies and T cells again. As a result, people do not or become very ill with a second infection.
It is not yet clear whether the immune system works in this way with covid-19. This coronavirus is too new for that, a lot of research is still needed, but the first indications are hopeful.
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