Longevity of seropositivity and neutralizing antibodies in recovered MERS patients: a 5-year follow-up study.
Clin Microbiol Infect
; 28(2): 292-296, 2022 Feb.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1312375
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
We aimed to assess the longevity of spike-specific antibody responses and neutralizing activity in the plasma of recovered Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) patients.METHODS:
We traced the antibody responses and neutralizing activity against MERS coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in peripheral blood samples collected from 70 recovered MERS patients for 5 years after the 2015 MERS outbreak in South Korea. We also measured the half-life of neutralizing antibody titres in the longitudinal specimens.RESULTS:
The seropositivity rate persisted for up to 4 years (50.7-56.1%), especially in MERS patients who suffered from severe pneumonia, and then decreased (35.9%) in the fifth year. Although the spike-specific antibody responses decreased gradually, the neutralizing antibody titres decreased more rapidly (half-life 20 months) in 19 participants without showing negative seroconversion during the study period. Only five (26.3%) participants had neutralizing antibody titres greater than 1/1000 of PRNT50, and a high neutralizing antibody titre over 1/5000 was not detected in the participants at five years after infection.DISCUSSION:
The seropositivity rate of the recovered MERS patients persisted up to 4 years after infection and significantly dropped in the fifth year, whereas the neutralizing antibody titres against MERS-CoV decreased more rapidly and were significantly reduced at 4 years after infection.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Coronavirus Infections
/
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Clin Microbiol Infect
Journal subject:
Communicable Diseases
/
Microbiology
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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