One is sick in bed for weeks, the other is back on its feet after a few days. For decades, scientists have been wondering how people can react differently to the same flu virus. Now there is an explanation. And no, it has little to do with resistance.
Scientists from UCLA and the University of Arizona have discovered that the extent to which people get sick from the flu depends on the subtypes of the virus they have been exposed to over the course of their lives. In addition, the order in which they were infected with the different variants of the flu virus also influences the severity of the disease now.
According to the study that in PLoS Pathogens appeared that exposure to a certain type of flu in childhood offers protection for the same type at a later age. If you first received a light variant and then a heavier one, you will always be more resistant to the light virus. Biologists call it immunological imprinting.
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