Common COVID Protections

Researchers at La Jolla Institute for Immunology provided compelling evidence that prior exposures to other strains of coronaviruses that cause the common cold provide some protection against their evil SARS CoV2 cousin.  The world has been wondering why some individuals seem protected from severe COVID 19 disease while others contract very severe cases.  This may explain that question to some degree.

            When taking T cells from individuals never exposed to SARS CoV2, they found about 40-60 percent of those patients had T cells which reacted at least somewhat to SARS CoV2.  The are pretty sure that it was the exposure of those patients to 4 other coronaviruses which provided the protection. 

As we move forward with our Immune Prepper Course One, we are thankful to see research that supports what I already suspected.  Our immune systems learn from prior battles and having some immune stimulation in the past better prepares us for the bigger battles ahead.

Original Article:

Jose Mateus, Alba Grifoni, Alison Tarke, John Sidney, Sydney I. Ramirez, Jennifer M. Dan, Zoe C. Burger, Stephen A. Rawlings, Davey M. Smith, Elizabeth Phillips, Simon Mallal, Marshall Lammers, Paul Rubiro, Lorenzo Quiambao, Aaron Sutherland, Esther Dawen Yu, Ricardo da Silva Antunes, Jason Greenbaum, April Frazier, Alena J. Markmann, Lakshmanane Premkumar, Aravinda de Silva, Bjoern Peters, Shane Crotty, Alessandro Sette, Daniela Weiskopf. Selective and cross-reactive SARS-CoV-2 T cell epitopes in unexposed humans. Science, Aug. 4, 2020; DOI: 10.1126/science.abd3871

Thanks to Science Daily:

La Jolla Institute for Immunology. “Exposure to common cold coronaviruses can teach the immune system to recognize SARS-CoV-2: Researchers caution: It is too soon to say whether pre-existing immune cell memory affects COVID-19 clinical outcomes.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 4 August 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200804100219.htm>.