COVID-19: Severely ill patients can produce antibodies against virus, says study

A recent study shows that the majority of people can naturally produce antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 when severely ill with COVID-19 disease. The study, published in the medical journal PLOS Pathogens, says that neutralising antibodies that specifically target the COVID-19 spike protein are found in people recovering from the disease. The research, carried out by Israeli scientists, says that people with severe and mild COVID-19 disease can produce antibodies that can help the immune system fight novel coronavirus. 

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Researchers from Tel Aviv University used molecular and bioinformatics techniques to compare B-cell responses in eight severely ill COVID -19 patients and 10 with mild symptoms. B-cells help the immune response in generating neutralising antibodies to fight disease. Researchers found that patients with severe disease produced long-lasting antibodies, while the ones with mild symptoms produced antibodies that diminished with time. 

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Cocktail of antibodies can stop the spread

Researchers also found that combining different types of antibodies can help in completely blocking the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The study aims to help in developing treatment with a cocktail of antibodies that can prevent the spread of COVID-19 and treat the disease. "Bioinformatics analysis suggests that most people would be capable of readily producing neutralising antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in severe cases of Covid-19," scientists said in their study. 

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COVID-19 disease is still raging havoc across the world since being discovered more than a year ago in China. The world has registered more than 109 million cases, with over 2.4 million deaths so far. Scientists have managed to develop multiple vaccines to block the spread of the disease, which governments are currently administering to people in all parts of the globe. According to Our World in Data, so far more than 175 doses of vaccines have been administered, with the US, China, EU, the United Kingdom, and India leading the pack. 

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(With inputs from PTI)