The SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the COVID-19 disease has upset our daily lives since its appearance in December 2019. Although this virus is new, it resembles the SARS-CoV virus responsible for an epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS ) in 2002 and 2003. The epidemic was then restricted to Southeast Asia and affected only regarding 8,000 people.
Despite this limited spread, some laboratories have sought to better understand this virus and the research conducted since the emergence of SARS-CoV has thus been able to be used to direct studies on SARS-CoV-2 and accelerate the development of means fight once morest this new virus. This underlines the importance of fundamental research in virology but also in all disciplines. We are not necessarily in a position to estimate today what will be useful tomorrow.
When SARS-CoV-2 was discovered, I had just started my thesis on a virus responsible for another pandemic, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Faced with the urgency of the epidemic situation and the many questions that quickly arose to deal with this unknown virus and this disease, our research laboratory decided to study SARS-CoV-2.
As the scientific community had to quickly develop tools to study this virus, we have created a reliable test that allows us to identify antibodies once morest this virus in blood samples or nasal swabs from patients. We then study these antibodies more precisely. Indeed, it is essential to understand what is the response of infected or vaccinated people once morest the virus and once morest the recently appeared variants.
How long do the antibodies produced following an infection persist? Do they remain protective for several months? Do they protect once morest a new infection by one of the variants? Are the antibodies produced following vaccination as effective as those produced following an infection?
We were thus able, at the start of the pandemic, to estimate the circulation of the virus in schools in the Oise region, one of the first French regions affected. This made it possible to show that the circulation of the virus also took place in schools and should be taken into account in the control measures. We also showed that antibody levels decreased more rapidly in men than in women 6 months following infection. Additionally, people who don’t have symptoms of the infection have similar antibodies to individuals who had symptoms during their COVID-19.
The current challenge is now to study our immune response induced by the vaccine and its effectiveness once morest new variants such as the Omicron variant.
Ludivine Grzelak
Biography :
Born in Noumea, she grew up there and went to school until the baccalaureate. After a preparatory class in biology in Paris, she joined the École Normale Supérieure Paris Saclay. She is currently on a specific Normalien contract for a thesis in virology at the Pasteur Institute.
Read also:
Scientific views on Covid-19: “A pandemic of a new era”, by Géraldine Vilmen, Doctor of Virology