Immune response in asymptomatic people

Infected people who are asymptomatic develop a weaker immune response than people who have symptoms, and the response may not be long-lasting, suggests a study in Nature Medicine. Researchers studied 37 asymptomatic participants who tested positive in China. Asymptomatic cases shed the virus (positive nasopharyngeal swab) for a median of 19 days, which was significantly longer than symptomatic cases. Within 2–3 months of infection, most patients saw a reduction in immunoglobulin G (IgG) and neutralizing antibody levels. At 8 weeks, more asymptomatic than symptomatic patients were seronegative for IgG (40% vs. 13%).

Immune response study in Nature Medicine