Covid study from England: colds protect children especially from coronavirus

Colds could protect against the coronavirus. This discovery was published by researcher Kevin Ng and his team at the Francis Crick Institute and University College London. While developing highly sensitive antibody tests, scientists noticed that some people already had antibodies in their blood even if they weren’t infected with the SARS-Cov-2 coronavirus. This was particularly the case with children and adolescents. Blood samples were taken in 2011 and 2018, long before the outbreak of the pandemic.

How can it be? Sars-Cov-2 is just one of the many coronaviruses capable of attacking humans. Most coronaviruses cause colds. The immune system produces antibodies when it fights infection. These then remain in the blood and fight the virus in case of reinfection. As the researchers have now discovered, the old antibodies may also help against the currently rampant coronavirus. These so-called cross reactions mainly occurred in children between the ages of six and sixteen (43.8 percent).

“Our results show that children have such cross-reactions much more frequently than adults,” study director Kevin Ng said in an institute statement. “But more studies are needed to understand why.” Ng assumes it has to do with the fact that children come in contact with the common cold virus more often.

And it provides an explanation of why children have less severe diseases. “These values ​​could explain why they get sick less when they have Covid-19,” Ng said. “However, there is still no evidence that these antibodies can prevent Sars-Cov-2 infection or stop its spread.”

Imperial College London and University College London are now launching a major study together with the Francis Crick Institute. The goal is to research the role that various antibodies play in protecting against Sars-Cov-2. And how much they affect the severity of the disease.