In a recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers identified that antibody levels in patients with mild COVID-19, the level of disease most people have, appear to drop by half within 36 days. Dr. Otto Yang, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at UCLA said that the rapidity in the antibody drop at 5 weeks “is striking compared to other infections”.
Of interest is that many people are running to their doctors for antibody testing and this study supports that “there’s no reason for anybody to be getting an antibody test medically right now because antibodies are only a part of the story”.
Dr. Yang also states “It is also important that we understand the difference between severe and mild disease, so we can study it over time, so we have all the tools we need as we start these pivotal vaccine studies to make sure we’re making the right immune response for the right duration of time so we can put an end to this pandemic”.