Abstract
Neutralizing antibodies are an important part of the humoral immune response to SARS-CoV-2. It is currently unclear to what extent such antibodies are produced after non-severe disease or asymptomatic infection. We studied a cluster of SARS-CoV-2 infections among a homogeneous population of 332 predominantly male Swiss soldiers and determined the neutralizing antibody response with a serum neutralization assay using a recombinant SARS-CoV-2-GFP. All patients with non-severe COVID-19 showed a swift humoral response within two weeks after the onset of symptoms, which remained stable for the duration of the study. One month after the outbreak, titers in COVID-19 convalescents did not differ from the titers of asymptomatically infected individuals. Furthermore, symptoms of COVID-19 did not correlate with neutralizing antibody titers. Therefore, we conclude that asymptomatic infection can induce the same humoral immunity as non-severe COVID-19 in young adults.
Highlights
To date, more than 100 million people have been infected by the novel zoonotic coronavirus (CoV), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)-CoV-2, and over two million have succumbed to the disease.The disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), presents with a wide range of symptoms of varying severity
We evaluated the production of SARS-CoV-2-specific neutralizing antibodies in a large and homogeneous cohort of 332 young, predominantly male adults and detected nAbs in 51 out of 52 patients that had suffered from non-severe COVID19 and 80 asymptomatically infected individuals
Neutralizing antibody titers did not differ between the two groups (Figure 2), suggesting that asymptomatic infection with SARSCoV-2 can induce an immune response comparable to non-severe COVID-19
Summary
More than 100 million people have been infected by the novel zoonotic coronavirus (CoV), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)-CoV-2, and over two million have succumbed to the disease. Given the range of disease severity in humans, it is important to elucidate the similarities and differences between symptomatic and asymptomatic infections of Viruses 2021, 13, 284 important to elucidate the similarities and differences between symptomatic and asymptomatic infections of SARS-CoV-2 and their implications for long-term protection, potenSARS-CoV-2 and their implications for long-term protection, potential re-infections, herd tial re-infections, herd immunity, and treatment options. We utilized a fully infectious, a fully infectious, recombinant clone of SARS-CoV-2 expressing green fluorescent protein recombinant clone of SARS-CoV-2 expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) [10] to (GFP) [10] to compare the neutralizing capacity of patients with non-severe COVID-19 to compare the neutralizing capacity of patients with non-severe COVID-19 to asymptomatic asymptomatic young adults in a large homogenous cohort.
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