Covid-19: Common cold may give some protection, study suggests

[Celerity]

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59911257

Natural defences against a common cold could offer some protection against Covid-19, too, research suggests. The small-scale study, published in Nature Communications, involved 52 individuals who lived with someone who had just caught Covid-19.

Those who had developed a "memory bank" of specific immune cells after a cold - to help prevent future attacks - appeared less likely to get Covid. Experts say no-one should rely on this defence alone, and vaccines remain key.

But they believe their findings could provide useful insight into how a body's defence system fights the virus. Covid-19 is caused by a type of coronavirus, and some colds are caused by other coronaviruses - so scientists have wondered whether immunity against one might help with the other.

But the experts caution that it would be a "grave mistake" to think that anyone who had recently had a cold was automatically protected against Covid-19 - as not all are caused by coronaviruses. The Imperial College London team wanted to understand better why some people catch Covid after being exposed to the virus and others do not.

snip

[dwayneb]

1. Interesting theory

But this is a tiny study of 52 people and it is far from conclusive.

If this is true, the reality is that many people won't ever get this natural immunity by catching a cold, since masking and social distancing has prevented most colds and flu over the last two years. So much so that the medication peddlers were losing their ass because they were not selling cold and flu products.

[Siwsan]

2. I had a cold VERY early in the pandemic, when my brother visited while likely contagious with Covid

I'm talking late February/early March of 2020. Of course, we didn't know everything we do now. He struggled through two plus weeks until he started to recover. I never developed any symptoms.

Of course, since I'm masked every time I go out in public, I'm not likely to be catching any colds - that was the only one I've had in 2 years. AND, of course, I'm triple vaxxed.

[OhZone]

3. Seems like a flawed study -

but may partly explain why some peeps don't get symptoms but are typhoid mary's.