(Reuters) – Months after recovering from SARS-CoV-2 infection, survivors have elevated levels of autoantibodies, even if they had not been severely ill, according to new findings.

Among 177 healthcare workers who had recovered from confirmed coronavirus infections contracted before the availability of vaccines, all had persistent autoantibodies, including ones that can cause chronic inflammation and injury of the joints, skin and nervous system, researchers reported in the Journal of Translational Medicine.

“We would not normally expect to see such a diverse array of autoantibodies elevated in these individuals or stay elevated for as long six months after full clinical recovery,” coauthor Susan Cheng of the Cedars-Sinai Smidt Heart Institute in Los Angeles told Reuters.

Patterns of elevated autoantibodies varied between men and women, the researchers found.

“We don’t yet know how much longer, beyond six months, the antibodies will stay elevated and/or lead to any important clinical symptoms,” Cheng said. “It will be essential to monitor individuals moving forward.”

Her team is investigating whether autoantibody elevations are linked with persistent symptoms in people with long COVID and planning to study autoantibody levels after infections with newer variants of the virus.

SOURCE: https://bit.ly/3f38eEJ Journal of Translational Medicine, online December 30, 2021.

Source: Read Full Article