• Ger Rijkers, Jean-Luc Murk, Bas Wintermans, Bieke van Looy, Marcel van den Berge, Jacobien Veenemans, Joep Stohr, Chantal Reusken, Pieter van der Pol, and Johan Reimerink.
• Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Admiral De Ruyter Hospital, Goes, The Netherlands.
• J. Infect. Dis. 2020 Sep 14; 222 (8): 1265-1269.

AbstractWe determined and compared the humoral immune response in patients with severe (hospitalized) and mild (nonhospitalized) coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Patients with severe disease (n = 38) develop a robust antibody response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), including immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin A antibodies. The geometric mean 50% virus neutralization titer is 1:240. SARS-CoV-2 infection was found in hospital personnel (n = 24), who developed mild symptoms necessitating leave of absence and self-isolation, but not hospitalization; 75% developed antibodies, but with low/absent virus neutralization (60% with titers <1:20). While severe COVID-19 patients develop a strong antibody response, mild SARS-CoV-2 infections induce a modest antibody response. Long-term monitoring will show whether these responses predict protection against future infections.© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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