Study: Immunity To Coronavirus May Fade Away Within Weeks

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Many patients who have recovered from Covid-19 may lose their immunity to the disease within months, according to research from scientists at King's College London, which, if proven true, will have wide implications for vaccine development and could put a "nail in the coffin" in the idea that herd immunity to the coronavirus is attainable.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/07/13/study-immunity-to-coronavirus-may-fade-away-within-weeks/#465a70e221bc

So there goes the herd immunity theory......

Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
On 7/15/2020 at 4:12 AM, A Hit With The Ladies said:

I don't disagree with you that people can get reinfected from Coronavirus. But at the same time I don't necessarily think that our immune systems won't end up adapting and becoming strong enough after second infection to ward off future reinfections. Needless to say, there hasn't been enough studies yet since this is all so new. But I suspect the outlier cases (e.g., the young infant or child who dies of COVID) gets disproportionate media coverage, which is then used as a blanket statement to say that all children (for instance) are highly susceptible for a COVID-related infection. So while in all fairness, it might be a bad idea to risk getting re-infected, it may be important to take re-infection findings with a grain of salt since there may be other health-related issues at play (which we don't know of yet) that are really increasing the risk of re-infection. Just my two cents.

Some "suspicions" and two cents worth are definitely to be taken with a grain of salt.

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This is a corona virus. Ie the virus that usually causes colds. I say that just in terms of immunity. Meaning, being a corona virus, why are we all of a sudden expecting it to confer immunity like other viruses? You can get more than one cold a season. I am, obviously, no expert, but this is something that is only now starting to occur to me, after being so hopeful, initially, about antibodies.

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
3 hours ago, NormaSaline said:

This is a corona virus. Ie the virus that usually causes colds. I say that just in terms of immunity. Meaning, being a corona virus, why are we all of a sudden expecting it to confer immunity like other viruses? You can get more than one cold a season. I am, obviously, no expert, but this is something that is only now starting to occur to me, after being so hopeful, initially, about antibodies.

More than 200 viruses can cause a cold. Most colds are caused by a Rhinovirus. https://www.CDC.gov/antibiotic-use/community/for-patients/common-illnesses/colds.html

Parainfluenza and respiratory syncytial virus, cause cold symptoms in adults, but can cause produce mild infections in adults but can cause severe lower respiratory tract infections in young children. Coronaviruses are thought to cause a large percentage of all adult colds.

https://web.archive.org/web/20081001232445/http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/commonCold/cause.htm

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Specializes in Community health.

We have had many patients at our FQHC test positive long after they’re well. Some had a series of tests like this: positive, positive, negative, positive. Did they get reinfected? Is the virus just staying in their system for a long time, and they had one false negative? I don’t know. Notable though is the fact that no one has gotten SICK again. Not from my anecdotal experience nor, as far as I am aware, in any reliable data. The test is picking up viral particles, but are these people infectious? That’s a different question. The studies I’ve seen from Korea suggest they are not, but then who knows at this point.

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