An antibody antibody existing in the human body against other coronaviruses can serve as a new protection against SARS-COV-2. This is evidenced by a new study of Spanish scientists, published in the journal Nature Communications.
From an extensive family of coronaviruses amazed by a person seven. Most of them cause only colds. The exception is three: Mers-Cov, Sars-COV and SARS-COV-2.
Team of specialists under the leadership of researchers from the Barcelona Institute of Global Health over the course of seven months – from March to October 2020 – studied the level of antibodies in the blood of 578 employees of the Barcelona Clinical Hospital. They measured the level and type of antibodies to six different SARS-COV-2 antigens, as well as the presence of antibodies to four more coronaviruses, those that cause ARVI.
Researchers found that most of those who have surpassed Coronavirus became infected at the beginning of the pandemic. The percentage of participants with antibodies to SARS-COV-2 increased slightly – from 13.5 to 16.4 percent, while the number of antibodies remained constant or even grew.
In addition, the work of Spanish scientists supports the theory that antibodies against ARVI coronaviruses can provide cross-immunity against COVID-19. In patients undergoing COVID-19 in a light form, the titer of IgG and IgA antibodies to other coronaviruses was higher than in patients with developed symptoms. Among those who SARS-COV-2 did not infected, also found the trend towards a higher level of such antibodies.