Researchers believe that the common cold can protect against Covid-19

A majority of the population could already have natural protection against Covid-19 by recently being infected by a more common cold.

This is shown in a new study published in the journal Nature, by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Germany. 

They have found that up to a third, or possibly more, have immune cells that respond to the new Coronavirus, an effect that stems from other other Coronaviruses that normally circulate, or from the common cold.

The new find will make it possible to explain why children and young people usually do not become seriously ill from the virus.

The researchers have analyzed blood samples from 18 different Coronavirus patients  and compared these with blood samples from 68 healthy people, The tests show that 25 people, or 35 percent, had T-cells that recognized and responded to fragments from the new Coronavirus. Among those who already had Covid-19, the proportion was 83 percent. 

Also, other researchers have come to the same conclusion. In a previous article from the journal Cell, there was a reference where the proportion of so-called cross-reactive T-cells is even higher, between 40 and 60 percent. 

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today