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TUESDAY, Sept. 8, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
The new coronavirus and antibodies that fight it can be in children’s bodies at the same time, surprised researchers have found.<\/p>\n
“With most viruses<\/a>, when you start to detect antibodies, you won’t detect the virus anymore. But with COVID-19<\/a>, we’re seeing both,” said Dr. Burak Bahar, director of laboratory informatics at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n “This means children still have the potential to transmit the virus even if antibodies are detected,” she added.<\/p>\n Bahar is lead author of a study that included more than 6,300 children who were tested for the new coronavirus and 215 patients who were tested for antibodies.<\/p>\n Of those 215 patients, 33 were tested for both the virus and antibodies. Nine had antibodies in their blood and later tested positive for the SARS<\/a>-CoV-2 virus, according to findings published Sept. 3 in the Journal of Pediatrics<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n The median time it took until the virus could no longer be detected was 25 days — meaning half took longer, half needed less time.<\/p>\n The median time for antibodies to appear was 18 days, and the median time to reach adequate levels of neutralizing antibodies was 36 days. Neutralizing antibodies potentially protect a person from re-infection.<\/p>\n The researchers also found that 6- to 15-year-olds took longer to clear the virus from their bodies (median: 32 days) than patients between 16 and 22 years old (median: 18 days). Girls age 6 to 15 took longer to clear the virus than boys (median of 44 days versus 25.5).<\/p>\n “The takeaway here is that we can’t let our guard down just because a child has antibodies or is no longer showing symptoms,” Bahar said. “The continued role of good hygiene and social distancing remains critical.”<\/p>\n The next phase of research will be to test if people with both the new coronavirus and antibodies can infect others. It’s also unknown if antibodies mean a person is immune, or how long antibodies and potential protection from reinfection last, Bahar said.<\/p>\n — Robert Preidt<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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