Why do some people not get infected with the corona virus? A British study provides interesting insights – although it is controversial.
Munich – Corona has been with us for years now. Almost everyone knows special anecdotes about the virus: For example, if you have definitely had contact with an infected person, for example your own partner or roommate – and still don’t get infected. A controversial British study is now providing insight into why some people do not contract the virus.
In the study, 36 test persons voluntarily let themselves be infected with the corona virus – which caused a lot of ethical discussions. The results are astonishing either way, because: Of 34 test persons who were actively exposed to the virus through water droplets in their nose, only 18 became infected. The disease completely passed the others.
British study on Corona – some do not become infected: “The virus levels did not rise high enough”
Study author Christopher Chiu from Imperial College in London explained this as he wrote in the Guardian : “The virus levels did not rise high enough to trigger detectable levels of antibodies, T cells or inflammatory factors in the blood.” He also spoke of genetic factors or an already existing immunity against similar pathogens as a reason for the successful defence.
Juliane Walz from the University Hospital in Tübingen can also understand this explanation. She told Der Spiegel that there are four variants of common cold coronaviruses that “similar to Sars-CoV-2”. Therefore, the immune system is pre-trained.
Walz himself researched the corona virus. It was about the so-called T-cells, which can recognize pathogens and fight them before the virus can cause damage. In her research, she discovered T cells that showed a reaction to corona in 81 percent of 180 subjects. It would not only depend on the quantity, but also on the quality of the T cells.
Corona: Researcher in Sweden “almost fell off her chair” when she found out about immunity
In Sweden, too, research was carried out into existing immunity against influenza pathogens. For example, in databases of known viruses, researchers found a sequence of six amino acids in an H1N1 flu virus (which causes swine flu) that partially matches the spike protein of the coronavirus. According to the Guardian , study author Cecilia Söderberg-Naucler from Stockholm “almost fell off her chair” when she made this discovery. Partial protection against corona was found in antibodies in two-thirds of blood donors – a cushion, according to the author, but no protection if you were “coughed in the face” by an infected person.
Genetic conditions can also protect you from Corona. As the infectiologist Hortense Sevogt from the Jena University Hospital revealed to Der Spiegel , some people have “the so-called single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs for short, in the DNA”. Hortense: “They may not have any noticeable effects, or they may have protective or harmful effects.” However, it is very rare that one is genetically protected, as experts from the USA have also explained, according to a report by the Handelsblatt. (cg) *Merkur.de/bayern is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
