Prior Common Cold: A Protective Factor Against Covid-19?
When T-cells learn from other coronaviruses and outsmart the novel SARS-CoV-2 — cross-immunity.
One reason why Covid-19 is so lethal is some is that the immune system has never encountered it before. So, the immune system mounts all sorts of reactions, some of which might be unsafe.
A July study in Nature, titled “Longitudinal analyses reveal immunological misfiring in severe COVID-19,” showed that the immune system of Covid-19 patients mounted anti-fungal and anti-parasitic reactions. It seems like the immune system is doing trial-and-error against the novel coronavirus. Such non-specific immune reactions, however, are not only ineffective but take up immunological resources and encourage unnecessary inflammation. “It seems completely random,” Akiko Iwasaki, a professor in the Departments of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University who directed this study, told The Atlantic. “The immune system almost seems confused as to what it’s supposed to be making.”
What if the immune system already knows what immune cells to deploy?
If that’s the case, immune reactions would be more specific. Unwanted inflammation and multi-organ…
