A 39-year-old unvaccinated Franklin County woman has died after a recent measles diagnosis. Nationally, numbers continue to increase and the US has passed 4,000 cases.
|Articles|March 21, 2023
Catching a Common Cold Gives Children COVID-19 Immunity
Author(s)Nina Cosdon
Exposure to a common seasonal coronavirus stimulates a memory T cell response that protects children against COVID-19. However, this immune response peaks at age 6.
Advertisement
Throughout the
A team of researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden wanted to determine whether contracting OC43, 1 of the 4 coronaviruses responsible for seasonal colds, stimulates a T cell response that protects children against COVID-19.
The investigators assessed humoral and cellular immune responses against OC43 and COVID-19 in children and adults who had never been exposed to COVID-19. They collected 48 blood samples from 2- and 6-year-old children, and 94 samples from adults aged 26-83 years. As a control, the study also included blood samples from 58 individuals who had recently recovered from COVID-19.
The investigators found preexisting COVID-19 reactive CD4+ T cell responses targeting spike, nucleocapsid, and membrane were closely linked to the frequency of OC43-specific memory CD4+ T cells in childhood.
This is evidence that functional cross-reactive memory CD4+ T cell immunity against COVID-19 is established during early childhood, similar to early seroconversion with seasonal human coronavirus OC43.
The study authors wrote that compared to other viruses, the high OC43 seroprevalence at age 2 suggests memory responses to coronaviruses develop at a young age. However, unlike other viruses, these OC43-specific antibodies did not increase further with age. “These reactions are especially strong early in life and grow much weaker as we get older,” said Annika Karlsson, a study author and research group leader at the Karolinska Institutet Department of Laboratory Medicine.
The robustness of the memory CD4+ T cell responses peaked at age 6 and then declined with age. The investigators concluded that these age-dependent qualitative differences in preexisting COVID-19-reactive T cell responses may reflect an individual’s ability to control coronavirus infections and mount an immune response to vaccination.
Advertisement
Related to this article
The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) recently held its respiratory season kick-off, which included the release of its annual respiratory disease survey. This year, the survey revealed the gap between vaccine support and uptake. Robert Hopkins Jr, MD, medical director of NFID delves deeper into the findings of the survey and the vaccine uptake challenges associated with certain immunizations.
The latest CDC numbers show a 5.0% increase of measles cases from week-to-week. The US total reached 4080 confirmed cases, 78% above all of 2025.
With US measles cases nearing 3,900 this year and Pennsylvania reporting its fifth measles-related death, here is a review of how the virus spreads, how it is prevented and managed, and what severe disease looks like.
Vaxcyte's 31-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine candidate met every prespecified primary immunogenicity and safety endpoint against PCV20 and PCV21 in the OPUS-1 trial of 4,047 US adults.
Irkutsk anti-plague institute death prompts quarantines and conflicting official accounts.
A laboratory technician at a Siberian anti-plague institute has died of pneumonia of unknown cause, prompting quarantines and contact monitoring while Russian officials stop short of confirming plague.
A study finding clesrovimab comparable to palivizumab in protecting at-risk infants in their first RSV season was extended to demonstrate clesrovimab effective and well-tolerated when administered in their second season.
Advertisement
Advertisement