Children can have COVID-19 antibodies, virus in their system simultaneously

Children's National Hospital researchers, who set out to improve the understanding of how long it takes pediatric patients with the virus to clear it from their systems and at what point they start to make antibodies that work against the coronavirus, have found that the virus and antibodies can coexist in young patients.

The study has been published in the Journal of Pediatrics.

"With most viruses, when you start to detect antibodies, you won't detect the virus anymore.

But with COVID-19, we're seeing both," said Dr. Burak Bahar, M.D., lead author of the study and director of Laboratory Informatics at Children's National.

"This means children still have the potential to transmit the virus even if antibodies are detected," added Dr. Bahar.