People who have had contact with the following viruses in the past could be immune to Covid-19 - because they have promising antibodies in their blood.
In general, previous illnesses are considered a risk factor * because they favor severe Covid 19 courses.
But there are new findings according to diseases that could mitigate the course of a coronavirus infection.
People who have already been infected with cold coronaviruses in the past should have immune protection.
Update from November 13th, 2020:
A recent study has confirmed that an earlier infection with widespread cold coronaviruses offers a certain protection against severe Covid-19 courses.
Background: The coronavirus family is very large, Sars-CoV-2 as the cause of Covid-19 is only one representative of these viruses.
There are also far more harmless corona viruses, around a third of all typical colds are due to corona viruses, as the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research informs.
As early as the summer, scientists found out
that people who have already had contact with cold coronaviruses form promising antibodies
.
Namely those that also respond to Sars-CoV-2 and that can inhibit the activity of the viruses.
When antibodies in the body offer protection against two diseases, doctors speak of cross-immunity.
Kevin Ng from the Francis Crick Institute in London and his team were able to observe in a recent study that such cross-immunity between Covid-19 and coronavirus-related colds can develop in the cellular immune response and also in the area of antibodies.
For their study result, which was published on the “Science” specialist portal, the researchers analyzed around 300 blood samples from the time before the corona pandemic.
They had examined them for antibodies that could bind to Sars-CoV-2.
And indeed, some blood samples contained antibodies that inhibited the Covid-19 trigger Sars-CoV-2
.
In blood samples from adults, only every tenth blood sample had such antibodies, in contrast to around 62 percent of the samples tested in children and adolescents that contained cross-reactive antibodies, according to Focus.de.
However, more studies have to follow: “But it is important to emphasize that there are still some unanswered questions.
For example, how immunity to one coronavirus changes through contact with another.
Or why this cross-immunity decreases so sharply with age, ”says study leader Ng according to the Scinexx portal.
Coronavirus infection can cause harmless colds
Article from April 30th, 2020
: When there is talk of coronaviruses, everyone thinks of the novel lung disease Covid-19, which is currently paralyzing entire countries.
But there are countless types of coronaviruses that occur worldwide and cause different diseases: "The coronavirus family includes a whole range of very different pathogens. (...)
About a third of typical" colds "are due to these largest of the RNA- Viruses
and one or the other "diarrhea" cause them ", informs the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research.
A previous infection with these "conventional" corona viruses could be an enormous advantage in the event of infection with Sars-CoV-2.
Immune to Covid-19 due to cold coronavirus infection?
In a study, Professor Andreas Thiel and his team from the Berlin Charité came to the conclusion that contact with cold coronaviruses could mean a certain immune protection against the novel pathogen Sars-CoV-2.
Christian Drosten, head of virology at the Charité in Berlin, had confirmed in an interview with NDR Info that the results of the study indicate that people who have already been infected with other corona cold viruses have their own immune protection * against renewed infection built with the same viruses.
Since many coronaviruses have similarities in structure, this could have a positive effect on an infection with Sars-CoV-2
.
Virologist Drosten about the study:
“It has been seen that reactive T cells are present in 34 percent of patients, even though these patients have never had contact with the Sars-2 virus. Now it is possible to predict these T-cell stimulating sections of such a virus . And you can compare them to similar sections in other viruses, especially the human cold coronavirus. There are four of them. And that's been done. In fact, it has to be said that there are sections like that in the human cold coronaviruses.
They could stimulate such T cells and at the same time they are in agreement to some extent between the cold coronaviruses and the SARS-2 virus
".
However, he confirms that on the basis of these results it cannot be concluded that 34 percent of the population are halfway immune to Covid-19 because they have previously had contact with other coronaviruses.
T cells are an important part of the body's defenses.
There are different types of white blood cells, as the German Center for Infection Research informs.
Some of the T cells are programmed to recognize and kill the body's own cells that have been infected by viruses.
Others activate B cells, which then produce antibodies
.
Also read
: Herd immunity as the only way out of the crisis?
Doctors call for "controlled contamination"
.
Coronavirus: Cross-immunity triggered by other coronaviruses
The theory of cross immunity is currently still being investigated.
This is the case when a person has survived an infection with the common cold coronaviruses, which usually cause mild respiratory diseases, and this results in a certain immune protection against the new lung disease Covid-19 *.
Various scientists and researchers are concerned with cross immunity, such as the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research.
It coordinates the CORESMA project ("COVID-19 Outbreak Response combining E-health, Serolomics, Modeling, Artificial Intelligence and Implementation Research").
Survey on the subject of "Corona vaccination"
One of the
aims of the international project is to find out
whether infections with other human coronaviruses lead to cross-immunity against the new pathogen Sars-CoV-2
.
The forecasts diverge.
According to Focus Online, infection epidemiologist Ulrike Protzer does not assume that it is protective antibodies that are shown in Elisa tests.
This means that in their opinion there is no cross immunity.
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: Infected again?
This is how likely a coronavirus infection is after surviving illness
.
It is not known from which antibody concentration immune protection exists
If you have been infected with the coronavirus, based on current knowledge, it is assumed that the immune protection will last for one to two years after the infection, as reported by paediatricians online.
This assumption is based on experience with other human corona viruses.
"In
all probability, after being infected with the Sars-CoV-2 virus, you will be protected from re-infection for at least a few years,
" said the President of the German Society for Immunology, Thomas Kamradt.
For all that is known about similar viruses, the antibodies produced by the body in response would protect against re-infection.
However, due to the lack of long-term studies on the new disease Covid-19, researchers are still in the dark when it comes to the level of immune protection.
This is shown by different expert opinions.
Matthias Orth, medical director of the Institute for Laboratory Medicine at the Marienhospital Stuttgart, explains that it is still unknown at what concentration of antibodies * there is protection and how often new infections can occur.
(jg)
*
Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editorial network
.
More sources: www.lgl.bayern.de; https://www.scinexx.de/news/medizin/corona-erkaeltungs-antikoerper-koennen-schuetzen/
Nasal irrigation against colds
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