These are still just laboratory studies, but they are still a source of hope. Several studies published for ten days have demonstrated, in human cells in vitro, a common immune reaction to the Sars-CoV-2 virus from Covid-19 and to other coronaviruses. If this mechanism of cross-immunity is confirmed in vivo, this would mean that exposure to winter coronaviruses, which are already circulating and are responsible for common colds, could protect, at least partially, against infection with the new virus.
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"There are certain similarities in the structure of the coronaviruses, in particular in terms of their envelope ," explains Professor Éric Delaporte, infectious disease doctor at the University Hospital of Montpellier. Thus certain antigenic markers, that is to say surface proteins of the virus, can be close and could induce cross immune reactions. ” This is what suggests a molecular biology study published on May 14 in
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