Will Antibodies After COVID-19 Illness Prevent Reinfection?
Scientists don't know whether people who have been exposed to the coronavirus will be immune for life, or if it can infect us again and again, like the common cold.
by Richard Harris
May 07, 2020
4 minutes
Most people infected with the novel coronavirus develop antibodies in response.
But scientists don't know whether people who have been exposed to the coronavirus will be immune for life, as is usually the case for the measles, or if the disease will return again and again, like the common cold.
"This to me is one of the big unanswered questions that we have," says Jeffrey Shaman, a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University, "because it really says, 'What is the full exit strategy to this and how long are we going to be contending with it?' "
He's one of
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