A new study has found that children may be protected from the Corona virus by part of our immune system since birth, as children still have a stronger form of innate immunity that they are born to and that fades with age, and researchers at Yale University and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in America found that Adults who contract coronavirus are nine times more likely to die from the infection than children.
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According to the British newspaper “Daily Mail”, the researchers analyzed the blood and plasma of both children and adults in order to get a glimpse of how their bodies respond differently to the infection.
In these samples, they found that children had higher levels of some immune cytokines produced by the so-called “innate” immune system, while adults produced more antibodies and cytokines produced by the “adaptive” immune system.
Despite their high antibody levels, adults fought far more against the disease.
The results provide evidence of why children do better against Coronavirus compared to how they deal with influenza and other respiratory viruses. COVID-19 Which tends to be milder in children than in adults.
Weapons in the innate immune system may provide additional weapons well suited to fighting the Coronavirus that are not provided by the antibodies and aspects of the adaptive immune system currently targeted through vaccines and drugs in development.
The children’s immune responses were different from that of adults, as were the infection outcomes in the two groups.
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The children had high levels of cytokines – which are immune proteins that start fighting infection and send a signal for other immune cells to join – associated with the innate immune system.
Innate immunity With us from the first day of birth it is a broad spectrum protection against any potential pathogen – but its components are like sharp objects that strike a virus or bacteria.
Adaptive immunity must be developed throughout our lifetime in response to specific invaders. This part of the immune system, which includes antibodies and T cells, provides a more precise and detailed defense against infection.
The children in the study had high levels of the labeled immune cytokine IL-17A.
Dr Kevan Herold of Yale University said: “The high levels of IL-17A What we found in pediatric patients may be important in protecting them from development COVID-19“.
In contrast, the children had lower levels of neutralizing antibodies, which are believed to be the most important defense of adaptive immunity against the Coronavirus.
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