Howie Severino's COVID-19 antibodies surprisingly spike up
Months after experiencing a decline in his antibodies against the novel coronavirus, COVID-19 survivor and GMA Network broadcast journalist Howie Severino found out that he has been exposed to the coronavirus once again, causing his antibodies to spike back up.
Since contracting COVID-19 around April, Howie has been monitoring his health. And in his blood test done on October 20, he discovered an increase in his antibodies.
He shared this surprising development, saying, “In the war against the pandemic, most of the skirmishes are happening inside our bodies. I just learned that the warriors in my blood got reinforcements, and went into action to ward off another attack by foreign invaders.”
Howie, who has also been committed to donating his blood plasma, further elaborated, “Previous testing technology in the Philippines would only tell you if you had the antibodies or not. There are two main types of Covid antibodies - the IgM, which indicates that you have a new infection and are probably still sick; and the IgG, the product of an old battle with Covid that gives you protection from future infection.
“Eventually, as in just a few months ago, hospitals acquired the capability to know your level, or quantity, of antibodies. That's how I was able to know that between May and September my antibody level was declining steadily. It was scaring the hell out of me.”
The Kapuso broadcast journalist was told that he might be making his last blood plasma donation in August. Nonetheless, he told doctors that he would keep taking blood tests to find out when his antibodies would completely vanish.
He explained, “I had very personal reasons for doing this tracking myself - I needed to know when I should recalculate my risks, and when my peace of mind should end."
Howie acknowledges that there is more to be studied and discussed about building immunity against the disease as well as about cases of reinfection. This mystery is precisely what astonished him when he found out the drastic change in his antibodies.
He related, “After a steady decline for at least five straight months, my IgG antibodies, the kind that gives protection from future infection, were now at 8.70, a gain of a whopping 47 percent from the previous month!”
He consulted several doctors about his result and they arrived at the same conclusion.
Howie said, “The spike in my antibodies was probably due to recent exposure to the Covid virus, which almost surely occurred since my previous test on September 1.
“I had apparently been near enough to a virus carrier to be infected if I did not already have IgG antibodies to fight off the virus. My battle-tested immune system quickly detected the enemy and produced even more of the same antibodies, hence the 47 percent increase in my IgG shield.”
Howie was not reinfected yet he still took the precaution to alert his colleagues and the people he got to interact with that they might have encountered a virus carrier weeks before October 20. Meanwhile, he is also delighted to know that he can make new blood plasma donations.
Since his experience doesn't also coincide with the general understanding of the decline of antibodies, he shared in detail the results of his blood tests via a Facebook post to aid in the COVID-19 research.
Read his full story here: