Thread by @ahandvanish

New CDC study finds that 36% of COVID patients *never seroconvert*, meaning they NEVER make antibodies! #LongCovid

This is a huge finding which we need to amplify broadly! Please retweet & send to providers, patients, support groups, #MedTwitter, etc.

wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27…
1/

They found two major risk factors that predicted a lack of seroconversion:

A) Age: people under 40 are statistically less likely to make antibodies. #LongCovid

2/

B) Small viral load: people who had higher PCR Ct values (meaning the test had to run more cycles before returning positive) were also less likely to seroconvert. This implies mild and asymptomatic cases are less likely to seroconvert. #LongCovid

3/

This study has huge implications not only for the many #LongCovid patients who have been denied care for not having antibodies, but also for how we think about protection from infection in society more broadly!

4/

This also has implications for reinfections and vaccine efficacy as well - the study itself mentions that "seroconverters and nonseroconverters will probably also respond differently to vaccination."

5/

When paired with this other CDC study showing 65% are seronegative at 60 days, it looks like the *majority* of patients never seroconvert or serorevert early. This has big implications for care & research. Antibody tests can't be required for either!

https://twitter.com/ahandvanish/status/1430614546356621315

6/

Just adding that even though differences in sex weren't statistically different in this study, 65% of men seroconverted compared to 35% of women.

This has come up in several other studies and needs to be researched further:

https://twitter.com/ahandvanish/status/1387140392794079236

7/