COVID-19: Common cold may provide some protection against the infection, says study

The natural defence of the body against common cold Coronavirus may give some protection against the COVID-19 disease, according to the latest research from Imperial College London, suggesting a potential direction for future vaccine production. Since COVID-19 is caused by a Coronavirus, and certain common colds are even caused by other Coronaviruses, thus, scientists speculated if an immunity to one may assist with the other, BBC reported. 

The small-scale research, which was released in Nature Communications, enlisted the examination of 52 people who resided with someone who had just contracted COVID-19. As per the researchers, T-cells are an important aspect of the immune system and they discovered that individuals with greater T-cell counts from earlier coronavirus infections, such as the common cold, were less likely to catch COVID-19, as per The Hill.  

However, experts also highlighted the fact that no one should absolutely depend only on this natural defence, and vaccinations will continue to be important. They believe, nevertheless, that their results may give significant insight into how the body's immune system combats the infection. Further, researchers warn that people must not think that everyone who has recently had a cold is immediately safeguarded against COVID-19, as not all colds are driven by Coronaviruses, BBC reported.

Findings of the research

As per the research, some of the T-cells are capable of killing any infected cells with a specific danger, such as a cold virus. After the cold has cleared, some T-cells stay in the body as a memory bank, ready to develop a defence when the virus reappears. Researchers had evaluated nearly 52 individuals who had not been inoculated but resided with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19 in September 2020. 

During the 28-day research period, half of the group received COVID-19 infection and the other half did not. A third of those who were not infected with COVID had significant amounts of particular memory T-cells in their blood, BBC reported. As per the research, these were very likely to be formed when the body was afflicted with another closely related human Coronavirus, most often a common cold. Additional factors, like ventilation and how contagious their family contact was, might also influence whether someone contracted the illness, according to the researchers. 

Furthermore, existing vaccinations target spike proteins on the virus's exterior, which are more prone to evolve than internal proteins, especially in the omicron strain. According to the findings, the next phase in the development of a COVID-19 vaccination should now concentrate on internal proteins. 

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