{"id":23429,"date":"2021-04-16T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/04\/16\/having-covid-doesnt-guarantee-immunity-study-of-marine-recruits-finds\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:25:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:25:34","slug":"having-covid-doesnt-guarantee-immunity-study-of-marine-recruits-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/coronavirus\/2021\/04\/16\/having-covid-doesnt-guarantee-immunity-study-of-marine-recruits-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Having COVID doesn\u2019t guarantee immunity, study of Marine recruits finds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Have you had COVID? Think you\u2019re immune from it in the future? Think again, according to the results of a new study of Marine Corps recruits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten percent of the recruits whose blood tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies before training were re-infected with COVID while in basic training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island<\/a>, South Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings make a strong argument for healthy young Americans to get vaccinated, according to researchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor our particular population, this is very strong data about why individuals previously infected, regardless of whether they had symptoms or not, should get the vaccine in accordance with DoD policy,\u201d said Navy Cmdr. Andrew Letizia, deputy director of the infectious disease directorate at the Naval Medical Research Center. The doctor is one of the researchers and authors of the study, published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine Journal Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antibodies are proteins made by the immune system to fight infections; it\u2019s uncertain whether young adults who get COVID are at risk of getting it again. NMRC conducted the study along with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to examine how effective antibodies are in preventing future COVID infections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recruits with these COVID-19 antibodies had about one-fifth the risk of getting COVID again, compared with those who didn\u2019t have antibodies. While antibodies from previous COVID-19 infection do provide some protection to young adults, it\u2019s no guarantee, the authors stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the largest study of COVID-19<\/a> looking over the long-term, where researchers have followed active-duty members before they got infected, Letizia said. They used data from blood samples and nasal swabs collected from the recruits when they arrived at Parris Island, and over six weeks of observation after they left their two weeks of restriction of movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings have implications for readiness, Letizia said. \u201cYoung, healthy Americans, regardless of whether they\u2019ve been previously infected or not, should pursue getting a vaccine. That\u2019s going to be the best thing they can do when it comes to long-term medical readiness for themselves and for their units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the key crux of all of this when it comes to readiness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the study, which was conducted between May and November, 10 percent of the 189 recruits who had COVID-19 antibodies were re-infected. And 48 percent \u2014 1,079 \u2014 of the 2,247 Marine recruits in the study who had not been previously infected with COVID-19 got COVID while they were in basic training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who got COVID \u201chad universally good outcomes,\u201d Letizia said, and the majority didn\u2019t even know they were infected, or re-infected, until they were told about the test results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Marines were certainly doing a fantastic job of observing these public health mitigation strategies,\u201d Letizia said. But the high infection rate of 48 percent \u201cshows us how incredibly infectious this virus can be in this particular setting,\u201d he said. Contributing factors include the type of training that requires close contact and grappling and physical engagement, he said, and the immune system can become more run down. Researchers noted that COVID infections might have been introduced by permanent staff members who interacted with the recruits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very unique environment, but certainly shows the potential of how infectious SARS-CoV-2 can be,\u201d Letizia said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is not an aspect of our study that\u2019s very generalizable to the civilian population at all, because basic training is a very different setting than our normal day-to-day lives,\u201d Letizia said, noting that he suspects that there are lot of other young healthy Americans who have gotten infected and don\u2019t know it.<\/p>\n\n\n\t