Colds may give some immunity to Covid-19

Testing of around 3,000 people in the Oslo area for antibodies suggests that colds may be resistant to the coronavirus that produces Covid-19.

The new coronavirus, which can lead to the Covid-19 disease and has caused a pandemic, surprises both Norwegian and foreign researchers according to NRK. The reason is that those who have been ill have not built up antibodies in the blood to the extent that they were expected to do.

Of those in the Oslo area who have been tested for antibodies after becoming ill with the new coronavirus, only about 1 percent have had antibodies in their blood. When you have had a common cold, caused by another type of coronavirus, there is usually a much higher incidence of antibodies in the blood afterwards.

Doctor and researcher at Oslo University Hospital, Fridtjof Lund-Johansen, points out that almost everyone has antibodies to colds in their blood, not least children, who are exposed to a lot of colds throughout the season. Here is perhaps the key to the fact that so few children appear to be ill with Covid-19: They have high levels of antibodies in their blood and thus may be better protected against the new coronavirus.

Lund-Johansen thinks there are exciting discoveries, although much is uncertain.

– What we do know is that this is a coronavirus, and it is also a coronavirus that causes common colds. And it may be that those who have had a cold have some immunity to the new virus, he says.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today