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Health Check: Covid immunity clues from a fishing boat in the Pacific

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The Echizen Maru fishing trawler

2020/08/19 GMT

Covid immunity clues from a fishing boat in the Pacific

BBC World Service - Health Check, Covid immunity clues from a fishing boat in the Pacific

How a type of antibody found in three fishermen is helping Covid-19 research

Certain antibodies appear to provide protection against Covid re-infection in Pacific fishermen; India Covid cases soar; horses helping with anxiety and depression in California

A Covid outbreak on board a trawler in the Pacific appears to have provided the first direct evidence that certain antibodies can provide protection from re-infection with the virus. American scientists tested for antibodies in 122 fishermen before and after their two week voyage. The three who had 'neutralising' antibodies did not get Covid-19, but three others who had produced general antibodies were infected. 

We hear from the World Health Organisation about how cases are rising in India and the United States – but appear to be levelling off in South Africa. 

Family doctor Ann Robinson explains how up to a third of those infected with Covid lose their sense of smell – but it’s not the same as having a blocked nose with a cold. And how American doctors believe that donated plasma transfusions can improve survival rates of those with the worst symptoms. 

And Alison van Diggelen reports on how horses on ranches in California are helping people with anxiety and depression – following an improvement in symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder when equine therapy was used on military personnel.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Paula McGrath

(Picture: The Echizen Maru fishing trawler. Photo credit: Alexis Delelisi/AFP/Getty Images.)

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