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What does immunity mean? The recent study covered in The Telegraph "tracked the 122 strong crew of a fishing boat operating in the Pacific off the coast of Seattle, Washington. All were tested for both antibodies and the virus before they sailed and after. An outbreak occurred on the vessel and 104 people become infected - an attack rate of 85 per cent.
However, only those without pre-existing antibodies caught the virus. Of the three crew members who had already been exposed to the disease prior to the boatâs departure and had antibodies, none showed evidence of reinfection.
Professor Danny Altmann, of the department of immunology and inflammation at Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College, said: "While this is a small study, it offers a remarkable, real-life, human experiment at a time when we've been short of hard-line, formal, proof that neutralising antibodies genuinely offer protection from re-infection. In short, itâs good newsâ.
"Similarly, another Seattle-based study published just last week found that patients who had recovered from mild forms of the virus had developed SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies and neutralizing plasma, as well as virus-specific memory B and T cells.
These âmemory cellsâ not only persisted but in some cases increased numerically over the three months following symptom onset."
"Scientists are growing increasingly confident about the human immune response to SARS-CoV-2 after studies showed antibodies provide âreal-worldâ protection against the virus and cellular immunity may be long-lasting, even in mild cases.
A study of a Covid-19 outbreak on a Seattle fishing boat involving more than 100 sailors has all but proven that antibodies provide protection against re-infection. Meanwhile, an encouraging body of evidence has found that T and B cells remain in the blood even once antibodies fade.
âThis is exactly what you would hope for,â Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington and an author on one of the new studies, told The New York Times. âAll the pieces are there to have a totally protective immune response.â
âThis is very promising,â echoed Smita Iyer, an immunologist at the University of California, Davis âThis calls for some optimism about herd immunity, and potentially a vaccine.â
Atibodies have long been thought to protect against reinfection but the first study to use hard real-world evidence was published last week by researchers at the University of Washington.
It tracked the 122 strong crew of a fishing boat operating in the Pacific off the coast of Seattle, Washington. All were tested for both antibodies and the virus before they sailed and after. An outbreak occurred on the vessel and 104 people become infected - an attack rate of 85 per cent.
However, only those without pre-existing antibodies caught the virus. Of the three crew members who had already been exposed to the disease prior to the boatâs departure and had antibodies, none showed evidence of reinfection.
Professor Danny Altmann, of the department of immunology and inflammation at Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College, said: "While this is a small study, it offers a remarkable, real-life, human experiment at a time when we've been short of hard-line, formal, proof that neutralising antibodies genuinely offer protection from re-infection. In short, itâs good newsâ.
Similarly, another Seattle-based study published just last week found that patients who had recovered from mild forms of the virus had developed SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies and neutralizing plasma, as well as virus-specific memory B and T cells.
These âmemory cellsâ not only persisted but in some cases increased numerically over the three months following symptom onset.
According to the study, the T cells multiplied upon re-encounter with the virus, while the B cells expressed receptors âcapable of neutralising the virusâ.
As such, the authors claim that the findings demonstrate that even mild Covid-19 can elicit memory cells that provide protective immunity."
Nice. Even when the infection is mild. Must be more accurate detection of antibodies and we have the best of the lot (along with gold standard active COVID test):
"Disease-fighting antibodies, as well as immune cells called B cells and T cells capable of recognizing the virus, appear to persist months after infections have resolved â an encouraging echo of the bodyâs robust immune response to other viruses.'
Extremely dangerous strategy to sell this so late in the game. Could and up having face ripped off.
"US trade mark accepted and awaiting examination." WOW!
Does anyone know any more about this?
"The two main antibody tests (Abbott & Roche) are not testing for the right COVID antibodies. "The most powerful antibodies recognize the coronavirusâs spike protein [...] the Roche & Abbott tests look for a protein called the nucleocapsid." New York Times article, 26 July.
So, this looks good for us: "We're using a particular capture mechanism for the antibodies which allows our test to be very sensitive. As far as we know, others were using other smaller fractions of the virus. Our scientific opinion and that of Oxford University is that the full-length spike protein is the way to go," Dr Chris Hand, Chairman of Abingdon Health.
Where have all these new names crawled from, just to chip away at the share? So transparent!
"If coronavirus is like flu and people need an annual vaccine, we will need mass antibody testing to measure people's antibody response to that vaccine. That's part of the plan," Dr Hand said.
"At the moment, this test is a tool to gather knowledge," Dr Hand said. "The objective is to allow mass testing, which you can't really do by sending samples to a lab. By being able to test millions of people, it will gather information so that we know how many people have antibodies, whether they protect against reinfection and how long they last."
"We're using a particular capture mechanism for the antibodies which allows our test to be very sensitive," Dr Hand said.
"As far as we know, others were using other smaller fractions of the virus. Our scientific opinion and that of Oxford University is that the full-length spike protein is the way to go."
"This rapid test appears to be truly amazing, and it shows we can do this ourselves," said Sir John Bell, Oxford's Regius Professor of Medicine, who leads the Government's antibody testing programme.
Only a tiny fraction of people flying now. Footfall must have been decimated and future holidays risk being cancelled at the drop of a hat. Makes me wonder where this business I heading. Winter could be crunch time. Let's hope the virus is almost burnt out by Xmas.
"If coronavirus is like flu and people need an annual vaccine, we will need mass antibody testing to measure people's antibody response to that vaccine. That's part of the plan," Dr Hand said.
"At the moment, this test is a tool to gather knowledge," Dr Hand said. "The objective is to allow mass testing, which you can't really do by sending samples to a lab. By being able to test millions of people, it will gather information so that we know how many people have antibodies, whether they protect against reinfection and how long they last."
"We're using a particular capture mechanism for the antibodies which allows our test to be very sensitive," Dr Hand said.
"As far as we know, others were using other smaller fractions of the virus. Our scientific opinion and that of Oxford University is that the full-length spike protein is the way to go."
"This rapid test appears to be truly amazing, and it shows we can do this ourselves," said Sir John Bell, Oxford's Regius Professor of Medicine, who leads the Government's antibody testing programme.
Bump.
Thanks, indeed it is!
Recap of superb Daily Telegraph article:
"If coronavirus is like flu and people need an annual vaccine, we will need mass antibody testing to measure people's antibody response to that vaccine. That's part of the plan," Dr Hand said.
"At the moment, this test is a tool to gather knowledge," Dr Hand said. "The objective is to allow mass testing, which you can't really do by sending samples to a lab. By being able to test millions of people, it will gather information so that we know how many people have antibodies, whether they protect against reinfection and how long they last."
"We're using a particular capture mechanism for the antibodies which allows our test to be very sensitive," Dr Hand said.
"As far as we know, others were using other smaller fractions of the virus. Our scientific opinion and that of Oxford University is that the full-length spike protein is the way to go."
"This rapid test appears to be truly amazing, and it shows we can do this ourselves," said Sir John Bell, Oxford's Regius Professor of Medicine, who leads the Government's antibody testing programme.
"Under Government plans, the tests will be distributed to healthcare professionals first before being made available for millions of people to use at home, who would then send in their results to a central database.
"At the moment, this test is a tool to gather knowledge," Dr Hand said. "The objective is to allow mass testing, which you can't really do by sending samples to a lab. By being able to test millions of people, it will gather information so that we know how many people have antibodies, whether they protect against reinfection and how long they last."
Ministers also hope the tests will be useful in determining whether future vaccinations against coronavirus have triggered the desired response.
"If coronavirus is like flu and people need an annual vaccine, we will need mass antibody testing to measure people's antibody response to that vaccine. That's part of the plan," Dr Hand said.
Unlike many rivals, the UK-RTC version uses the "full-length spike protein" part of the virus to capture so-called IgG antibodies as blood passes through the home test. If the result is positive, two pink lines appear within 20 minutes.
"We're using a particular capture mechanism for the antibodies which allows our test to be very sensitive," Dr Hand said. "As far as we know, others were using other smaller fractions of the virus. Our scientific opinion and that of Oxford University is that the full-length spike protein is the way to go."
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: "We have received an extraordinary response to our call to action to supply antibody tests, and we continue to work with industry to identify further tests that are safe and accurate to be used at home."
New York Times article from yesterday: "68% Have Antibodies in This Clinic. Can a Neighborhood Beat a Next Wave? Data from those tested at a storefront medical office in Queens is leading to a deeper understanding of the outbreakâs scope in New York. At a clinic in Corona, a working-class neighborhood in Queens, more than 68 percent of people tested positive for antibodies to the new coronavirus. At another clinic in Jackson Heights, Queens, that number was 56 percent. But at a clinic in Cobble Hill, a mostly white and wealthy neighborhood in Brooklyn, only 13 percent of people tested positive for antibodies." https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/nyregion/nyc-coronavirus-antibodies.html?auth=login-google
Huge study in France confirms what we all already know about the immune system: "The test suggested that 99.4% of the people studied had produced antibodies; only one individual, a 58-year old man, had no antibodies detected.
The research noted that the detected antibody response appeared to grow stronger as the participants recovered and that the antibodies appeared effective in combating (or neutralising) the virus." *For at least 2 years! (That's even better than a yearly flu vaccine).
LOL! It would be extraordinary if people didn't produce antibodies. Huge study in France confirms what we all already know about the immune system: "The test suggested that 99.4% of the people studied had produced antibodies; only one individual, a 58-year old man, had no antibodies detected.
The research noted that the detected antibody response appeared to grow stronger as the participants recovered and that the antibodies appeared effective in combating (or neutralising) the virus.
Congrats to all who held their nerve. This is just the start.