“항체 생성률 낮아…치료제 나올 때까지 방역대책 철저해야”
New research suggests only a small percentage of recovered COVID-19 patients generate an antibody to the virus that would prevent them from contracting it over and over again.
The researchers say that means the focus should remain on quarantine measures, while bracing for a potential second wave of infections.
Kim Sungmin reports.
Whenever a pathogen is detected, our body’s immune system fights it to generate the antibody to kill it.
Fighting infections can give our body immunity from the pathogen should it infect us again.
Vaccination helps by providing us with the antibody before we get ill, but a vaccine for COVID-19 is likely a way away.
Countries like Sweden and the United Kingdom have opted to try and build a so-called ‘herd immunity’…which means allowing the overall population to become sufficiently immune so the virus eventually stops spreading as it can’t find enough suitable hosts.
But, recent research suggests an antibody for COVID-19 is not easily developed by our bodies’ immune systems.
A seroepidemiology study from the Netherlands says only 2-to-3-percent of patients who have fully recovered from COVID-19 were found to have the antibody.
The head of the World Health Organization also said only a small percentage of the population, even in heavily-affected areas, may have produced the antibody after being infected.
The UK-based newspaper, The Guardian, wrote such a low percentage would seriously undermine hopes for developing herd immunity to COVID-19.
South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention interpreted the results as an extra reason to maintain tight quarantine measures in the nation.
“The fact that only a small portion of the European population has generated an antibody to COVID-19 suggests we cannot let our guard down.”
South Korea is also planning its own research about the percentage of recovered patients who have developed an antibody.
“We accept we have to tighten our preparedness against the potential for a new wave and we’ll try our best.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to accelerate steps for R&D, while planning long term countermeasures to mitigate the spread of the virus.
Kim Sung-min, Arirang News.
#prevention #vaccine #coronavirus
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