A new study confirms that previous infection with the common cold virus makes the Omicron variant less aggressive. This is especially true for children.
About two months after the discovery, the results of studies on the effects of the Omicron variant are regularly published in medical journals.
In recent days, a study by Imperial College London has shown that:A simple cold can protect against infection with the coronavirus as the Omicron variant. For the ICL researchers, the role of “T cells” was crucial. “We found that high levels of pre-existing T cells, which the body makes when infected with other human coronaviruses such as the common cold, can protect against COVID-19 infection.”
This 52-person study complements another study from the University of Birmingham, also published in: nature’s immunity These last days.
Researchers compared the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in 91 children ages 3 to 11 and 154 adults. All had asymptomatic or mild symptoms of Covid. The data was collected in the second half of 2020, but the research has only been published in recent days.
Better immune response in children
The results indicate that antibody production and T cell response were higher in children. Since certain T cells are also present in children who have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, they may not be caused by infection with this virus, but their presence is due to previous exposure to coronaviruses that cause the common cold.
This would be one of many explanations for the fact that children are less affected by the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic. “Exposure to different respiratory viruses in a short period of time, during the first two years of life, causes children to generate a better immune response than adults,” said our colleagues. TV3, Tony Soriano, MD, pediatrician at Vall d’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona.
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