Recovered Covid-19 patients have only 20 pct antibody after 3 months: MOH study

 

Individuals who recover from Covid-19 in Malaysia were found have significantly reduced antibodies three months after recovery.

This is based on a limited study conducted on a group of recovered patients by the Ministry of Health.

"In our antibody study, we found that after three months, those who were infected only have about 18 to 20 percent of antibodies left," health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told reporters in Putrajaya today.

However, he said, the ministry needs more volunteers among recovered patients to join the study so it can learn more about the impact of Covid-19 infections in the long-run.

"We need more individuals who have recovered to join the study so we can make good inferences.

"We need at least 275 recovered individuals, while only 106 have registered to join the study so far," he said.

He said those who join the study will be checked every three months. "We have many questions that we need answers to," he said.

Since the start of the pandemic, a total of 20,248 Malaysians have recovered from Covid-19 in Malaysia.

'Herd immunity'

The low antibody levels among recovered patients in the early studies paint a discouraging picture because it means those infected do not become immune to another infection.

Some scientists and policy-makers had hoped that if antibodies remain high and more of the population get infected, a phenomenon called herd immunity can occur.

Among proponents were scientists who early this month released the Great Barrington Declaration which called for a return to normal life so herd immunity could be achieved.

The scientists received an audience at the White House, while US President Donald Trump expressed support for the notion.

Other scientists, however, warn it could lead to a catastrophic loss of lives.

Countering the Great Barrington Declaration in the reputed medical journal The Lancet, a group of scientists said the approach was a "dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence".

The United States has lost at least 229,000 lives to Covid-19, while 9.02 million have been infected.

Worldwide, 1.18 million people have died due to complications related to Covid-19, while 45.1 million have been infected. - Mkini