COVID-19 patients may have antibodies up to four months after contracting the virus, according to an Icelandic study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Researchers in Iceland looked for the presence of antibodies in blood samples from 30,576 people who were either diagnosed with COVID-19, exposed to someone with the virus or had never had any known exposures, according to NBC News. They zeroed in on 487 COVID-19 patients who completed more than one antibody test over four months to assess how antibody levels changed over time.
Researchers found antibody levels increased in the first two months after a COVID-19 diagnosis and plateaued over the next two months.
Of the 1,215 people who had recovered from COVID-19, 108 did not have antibodies, suggesting that some people may have weaker immune responses to the virus, researchers said. It's also possible that some of these patients initially received false positive test results for COVID-19.
Older patients and those with severe COVID-19 cases had higher antibody levels. Women also had lower antibody levels than men, researchers found.
To view the full study, click here.
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