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New insights
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The Berlin Charité published a study in which certain subjects were examined for their immunity to the corona virus. The amazing thing: You weren’t infected with Sars-CoV-2 at all. Can a cold that has survived make us immune to the new corona virus?
In addition to the new Sars-CoV-2 virus, which can be traced back to animal viruses, there are a number of human corona viruses that are actually harmless and only cause a cold. A study by Charité scientist and Professor Andreas Thiel in collaboration with the team of Professor Christian Drosten found: Approx. 34% of healthy subjects never had Covid-19 infection and still had T cells. These cells of the human immune system help our body fight pathogens. If they are infected again, they are reactivated and fight the pathogen directly. The human corona viruses thus led to a so-called cross-reactivity and also fought against the novel corona viruses. So does that mean many of us who have had multiple colds in their lives could be immune to Covid-19?
Positive and negative influences from cross-reactivity
This hope is premature because, according to Thomas Kamradt, President of the German Society for Immunology, this cross-reactivity can also have negative effects. Compared to the focus, he emphasizes that it is possible that patients who have such a cross-reactivity do not become ill at all or only very mildly. In the worst case, however, the antibodies may even do more damage if they become infected again. Studies still have to clarify whether this is the case with the corona virus. Therefore, it is now important that these immune reactions are examined as much as possible. There are still very few studies.
