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MONDAY, Oct. 5, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
The common cold<\/a> can make you miserable, but it might also help protect you against COVID-19<\/a>, a new study suggests.<\/p>\n The researchers added that people who’ve had COVID-19<\/a> may be immune to it for a long time, possibly even the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n The research focused on memory B cells, long-lasting immune cells that detect pathogens, produce antibodies to destroy them, and remember them for the future.<\/p>\n The study authors compared blood samples from 26 people who were recovering from mild to moderate COVID-19<\/a> and 21 healthy people whose samples were collected six to 10 years ago, long before they could have been exposed to COVID-19<\/a>.<\/p>\n They found that B cells that attacked previous cold<\/a>-causing coronaviruses appeared to also recognize the coronavirus (SARS<\/a>-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19<\/a>.<\/p>\n This could mean that anyone who’s ever been infected by a common cold<\/a> coronavirus — nearly everyone — may have some amount of immunity to COVID-19<\/a>, according to infectious disease experts at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y.<\/p>\n The researchers also found that SARS<\/a>-CoV-2 triggers memory B cells, which means those immune cells are ready to fight the coronavirus the next time it shows up in the body.<\/p>\n “When we looked at blood samples from people who were recovering from COVID-19, it looked like many of them had a preexisting pool of memory B cells that could recognize SARS<\/a>-CoV-2 and rapidly produce antibodies that could attack it,” study author Mark Sangster said in a university news release. He’s a research professor of microbiology and immunology.<\/p>\n Because memory B cells can survive for decades, they could protect COVID-19 survivors from subsequent infections for a long time, but further research is needed to confirm that, according to the authors.<\/p>\n “Now we need to see if having this pool of preexisting memory B cells correlates with milder symptoms and shorter disease course — or if it helps boost the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines<\/a>,” study co-author David Topham, professor of microbiology and immunology, said in the release.<\/p>\n The study was published in the September\/October issue of the journal mBio<\/i>.<\/p>\n — Robert Preidt<\/p>\n![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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