New research from Washington University School of Medicine has found that postponing lung cancer surgery for more than 12 weeks from the date of diagnosis with a CT scan is associated with a higher risk of recurrence and death.
Antibodies are the memory cells that help humans enhance their defences when exposed to the same virus in the future. They are proteins created by our immune system as a defence mechanism after we are infected or vaccinated.
A new study suggests that, among men, low testosterone levels in the blood are linked to more severe COVID-19.
The study contradicts widespread assumptions that higher testosterone may explain why men, on average, develop more severe COVID-19 than women do.
“The groups of men who were getting sicker were known to have lower testosterone across the board.”
Throughout the pandemic, doctors have seen evidence that men with COVID-19 fare worse, on average, than women with the infection.
One theory is that hormonal differences between men and women may make men more susceptible to severe disease. And since men have much more testosterone than women, some scientists have speculated that high levels of testosterone may be to blame.
Those cells could persist for a lifetime, churning out antibodies all the while.
The findings in
Nature, suggest that mild cases of COVID-19 leave those infected with lasting antibody protection and that repeated bouts of illness are likely to be uncommon.
“Last fall, there were reports that antibodies wane quickly after infection with the virus that causes COVID-19, and mainstream media interpreted that to mean that immunity was not long-lived,” says senior author Ali Ellebedy, associate professor of pathology and immunology, of medicine, and of molecular microbiology at Washington University in St. Louis.
“But that’s a misinterpretation of the data. It’s normal for antibody levels to go down after acute infection, but they don’t go down to zero; they plateau. Here, we found antibody-producing cells in people 11 months after first symptoms. These cells will live and produce antibodies for the rest of people’s lives. That’s strong evidence for long-lasting immuni