RECOVERING from a cold could provide some people with extra protection against Covid.
A new study has revealed people who recently got over a bout of the sniffles had an increase in T-cells, which can offer protection against a wide range of coronaviruses.
Scientists at University College London tracked more than 750 healthcare staff working with Covid patients.
They found 58 of the participants never tested positive for Covid, and all of them showed an increase in T-cells.
The results of the study, published in medical journal Nature, found “previous common cold exposure may give a head start against the virus,” author Dr Leo Swadling told The Telegraph.
He explained the existence of the T-cells tips “the balance in favour of their immune system eliminating the virus before it could start to replicate”.
And the researchers also found rather than avoiding infection completely, some of the workers experienced a super low-level infection that wasn’t picked up by routine tests.
Dr Swadling described the finding as “abortive infection,” different to already known forms of the bug like being asymptomatic to mild infection and severe disease.
And the T-cells are triggered into action by any coronavirus because they respond to a specific cluster of proteins unique to how the virus replicates, the study found.
But the boffins stressed not all common colds would provide protection – as some are caused by coronaviruses.
But in some cases, it could provide stronger protection alongside a vaccination.
Prof Mala Maini, study co-author from UCL, said: “T-cells recognising the virus’ replication machinery would provide an additional layer of protection to that provided by the spike-focused immunity that is generated by the already highly efficacious current vaccines.”
The researchers said they hoped the data could be the blueprint for a new vaccine that could provide immunity against all coronaviruses.
