The Naked Scientists
  • Login
  • Register
  • Podcasts
      • The Naked Scientists
      • eLife
      • Naked Genetics
      • Naked Astronomy
      • In short
      • Naked Neuroscience
      • Ask! The Naked Scientists
      • Question of the Week
      • Archive
      • Video
      • SUBSCRIBE to our Podcasts
  • Articles
      • Science News
      • Features
      • Interviews
      • Answers to Science Questions
  • Get Naked
      • Donate
      • Do an Experiment
      • Science Forum
      • Ask a Question
  • About
      • Meet the team
      • Our Sponsors
      • Site Map
      • Contact us

User menu

  • Login
  • Register
  • Home
  • Help
  • Search
  • Tags
  • Member Map
  • Recent Topics
  • Login
  • Register
  1. Naked Science Forum
  2. Life Sciences
  3. Physiology & Medicine
  4. COVID-19
  5. How does prior infection of Wuhan Corona protect against new variants ?
« previous next »
  • Print
Pages: [1]   Go Down

How does prior infection of Wuhan Corona protect against new variants ?

  • 6 Replies
  • 314 Views
  • 0 Tags

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Petrochemicals (OP)

  • Naked Science Forum King!
  • ******
  • 1745
  • Activity:
    50.5%
  • Thanked: 40 times
  • forum overlord
    • View Profile
How does prior infection of Wuhan Corona protect against new variants ?
« on: 18/02/2021 22:27:29 »
If you have survived the Wuhan strain of sarscov2 does it mean you have natural protection against the cockney or South Africa strains ?
Logged
For reasons of repetitive antagonism, this user is currently not responding to messages from;
BoredChemist
To ignore someone too, go to your profile settings>modifyprofie>ignore!
 



Offline evan_au

  • Global Moderator
  • Naked Science Forum GOD!
  • ********
  • 9349
  • Activity:
    50.5%
  • Thanked: 997 times
    • View Profile
Re: How does prior infection of Wuhan Corona protect against new variants ?
« Reply #1 on: 19/02/2021 07:43:38 »
No protection is perfect.
- Antibody levels naturally decline over time, so it is possible that a couple of years later, you might get reinfected by the same strain.
- Each person will generate a unique cocktail of antibodies to a COVID-19 infection. Some of these antibody strains will recognize the new variant, and some won't (or will have reduced affinity). If you are unfortunate, your individual cocktail of antibodies won't recognize the new variant, and you are likely to be infected by some of the new strains. But some people will be lucky...

The best protection is to have a low level of virus circulating, so you are less likely to be exposed to it.
- And as some have observed, if there is virus circulating somewhere in the world, it will be circulating everywhere in the world...
Logged
 

Offline set fair

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • 354
  • Activity:
    11.5%
  • Thanked: 15 times
  • Naked Science Forum Newbie
    • View Profile
Re: How does prior infection of Wuhan Corona protect against new variants ?
« Reply #2 on: 19/02/2021 14:47:07 »
Evan is right. There are some 20 antibody epitopes on the D614G variant which dominated the first wave outside China. An antibody epitope is a place on the virus to which an antibody can attach and each individual will produce only some of these. There are T cell epitopes too but being harder to study we don't know the situation with them.

Falling antinody levels will lead to a person being suseptible to reinfection and it is pot luck which epitopes have gone due to mutation. Weak immunity in an individual who has been reinfected can lead to the virus mutating to evade that persons antibodies. There is also the possibility that the individual will only make more of the original antibodies rather than make antibodies to the new epitopes of the new variant - we don't know how widespreasd that is and if we wait and see rather than investigate, we won't know until the summer, when the first vaccinees are coming up to 4 or 5 months since their second jab.
Logged
 

Offline Petrochemicals (OP)

  • Naked Science Forum King!
  • ******
  • 1745
  • Activity:
    50.5%
  • Thanked: 40 times
  • forum overlord
    • View Profile
Re: How does prior infection of Wuhan Corona protect against new variants ?
« Reply #3 on: 19/02/2021 23:04:19 »
I was led to believe antibodies fell after a period whilst Tcell retained the memory to reproduce antibodies if needed. I do not think it would be healthy for a human to have a sufficient level of antibodies to counter  every pathogen ever encountered.

Logged
For reasons of repetitive antagonism, this user is currently not responding to messages from;
BoredChemist
To ignore someone too, go to your profile settings>modifyprofie>ignore!
 

Offline Bored chemist

  • Naked Science Forum GOD!
  • *******
  • 22569
  • Activity:
    100%
  • Thanked: 581 times
    • View Profile
Re: How does prior infection of Wuhan Corona protect against new variants ?
« Reply #4 on: 20/02/2021 00:51:56 »
Quote from: Petrochemicals on 19/02/2021 23:04:19
I do not think it would be healthy for a human to have a sufficient level of antibodies to counter  every pathogen ever encountered.

I considered the alternative and came to the conclusion that having sufficient antibodies to all the diseases we encountered would be a great deal healthier than not doing so.

I have the advantage of understanding the word "sufficient" and knowledge that we can make more antibodies if we need to.
Logged
Please disregard all previous signatures.
 



Offline set fair

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • 354
  • Activity:
    11.5%
  • Thanked: 15 times
  • Naked Science Forum Newbie
    • View Profile
Re: How does prior infection of Wuhan Corona protect against new variants ?
« Reply #5 on: 20/02/2021 01:05:06 »
Quote from: Petrochemicals on 19/02/2021 23:04:19
I was led to believe antibodies fell after a period whilst Tcell retained the memory to reproduce antibodies if needed.

So was I, but now they are not sure and it may be down to memory B cells. Antibody levels look like they are at least a marker for immunity in covid and the simplest explanation is that high enough levels are protective. I think revaccination 5 months after the second jab makes good sense just to keep up the antibody levels.
Logged
 

Offline evan_au

  • Global Moderator
  • Naked Science Forum GOD!
  • ********
  • 9349
  • Activity:
    50.5%
  • Thanked: 997 times
    • View Profile
Re: How does prior infection of Wuhan Corona protect against new variants ?
« Reply #6 on: 20/02/2021 05:59:38 »
Quote from: Petrochemicals
I do not think it would be healthy for a human to have a sufficient level of antibodies to counter  every pathogen ever encountered.
Antibodies have a half-life of about 2 weeks in the body.

I agree that there must be some cost to having lots of white blood cells continually churning out high levels of every antibody you have ever needed, as if you had a simultaneous acute infection to every disease to which you were ever exposed!

So it makes sense for those white blood cells to get quieter after the infection has passed, but ready to reactivate if later exposed to the same pathogen.

In my simple understanding, having once been exposed to a pathogen:
- Circulating neutralizing antibodies will prevent a new infection, if they are still at a high enough level in the body.
- Other antibodies may not prevent an infection, but will notify the immune system that an infection is underway, and ramp up an immune response.
- Killer cells will detect and destroy infected human cells, preventing them from budding off more virus particles.
Logged
 



  • Print
Pages: [1]   Go Up
« previous next »
Tags:
 

Similar topics (5)

How does Urine dip show infection and a three day culture show NONE???

Started by Karen W.Board Physiology & Medicine

Replies: 10
Views: 10872
Last post 29/03/2009 04:56:25
by Karen W.
What is the risk of infection from frozen fruit and dried fruit?

Started by set fairBoard COVID-19

Replies: 4
Views: 704
Last post 18/05/2020 10:52:21
by Bored chemist
Will cold foods make a cold (viral infection) come back?

Started by Mickael ElmalemBoard Cells, Microbes & Viruses

Replies: 1
Views: 5068
Last post 26/03/2011 23:20:13
by Jolly- Joliver
What attracts white blood cells to sites of infection or inflammation?

Started by cheryl jBoard Physiology & Medicine

Replies: 1
Views: 3623
Last post 19/12/2011 19:52:16
by RD
Are gonadal cells expressing ACE2 susceptible to coronavirus infection?

Started by KayBoard COVID-19

Replies: 1
Views: 559
Last post 17/04/2020 17:52:34
by chris
There was an error while thanking
Thanking...
  • SMF 2.0.15 | SMF © 2017, Simple Machines
    Privacy Policy
    SMFAds for Free Forums
  • Naked Science Forum ©

Page created in 0.215 seconds with 51 queries.

  • Podcasts
  • Articles
  • Get Naked
  • About
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe to newsletter
  • We love feedback

Follow us

cambridge_logo_footer.png

©The Naked Scientists® 2000–2017 | The Naked Scientists® and Naked Science® are registered trademarks created by Dr Chris Smith. Information presented on this website is the opinion of the individual contributors and does not reflect the general views of the administrators, editors, moderators, sponsors, Cambridge University or the public at large.