Covid-19 antibodies may not last more than a couple of months, according to a study carried out on affected healthcare staff of JJ Group of Hospitals. “Our study of 801 healthcare staff from JJ, GT and St George’s Hospitals included 28 who had tested positive for Covid (on RT-PCR) seven weeks prior (in late April-early May),” said the study’s main author Dr Nishant Kumar. None of the 28 showed any antibodies in a sero survey done in June, according to the pre-print of the study that will appear in the September issue of the ‘International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health’. The JJ Hospital sero survey had 34 others who tested PCR positive for Covid three weeks and five weeks prior respectively. “While 90% of those in the three-week group had antibodies, less than half (38.5%) in the five-week group had antibodies,’’ said Dr Kumar. Covid antibodies are being widely discussed at the moment because of the newly flagged off vaccine trials in India and the first documented case of Covid re-infection in Hong Kong. Antibodies can guard patients against repeat infections and those vaccinated against first infections. In June, Dr Kumar’s not-for-profit Eyebetes Foundation along with state-run JJ Hospital in Byculla carried out an antibody survey among the latter’s staff. The survey showed that one in 10 staffers was sero-positive or had had previous exposure to the virus.