Are increased RSV infections associated with immune debt or SARS-CoV-2 immune dysfunction?

The United States and many countries around the world were caught off guard by the rapid rise in RSV infections. An almost routine explanation, many attribute this to the absence of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases and the absence of immunological exposures in the previous year. He said:So these children, if they do, need to be infected [with RSV] To move forward because it is a disease that is rampant in children. “In many circles, this was interpreted as a mask, and avoiding crowded environments was harmful because it compromised natural immunity.”immune debt” Entered mainstream medicine.

However, when this statement was released in early November 2022, the total number of RSV cases in the previous year was close to that of the United States (see Figure IA). at critical levels in RSV patientsAdditionally, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), there will be few school closures in the United States in the 2021-2022 school year. Over 98% of school districts report in-person learningthe rest report hybrid or remote.

Another plausible explanation was “immune theft” or immunodeficiency caused by previous SARS-CoV-2 infections. 75% of children aged 0-11 had SARS-CoV-2 in the United States. Immunodeficiency has been found in other viral infections such as measles, which can cause decreased antibody function, and seasonal influenza, which can cause lymphopenia.

Other countries have had similar epidemiological experiences with RSV. in Denmark, A pronounced peak in RSV cases will be seen in fall 2021 and fall 2022. If lack of exposure to RSV is to blame, from 2022 he is not expected to have more cases in his RSV season in 2023 (see chart). IB).

This pattern of RSV cases was also seen in SwedenAs explained in the 2022 book by Bergmann S. and Lindström M. Swedish pandemic experiment, Sweden has had an almost complete shortage of public masks and has never had a nationwide closure of kindergartens and primary schools. surged in RSV cases (see Figure IC).

Finally, China, where few data are available, did not see a surge in RSV among hospitalized patients. At a children’s hospital in Shanghai, China, When the community reopens in August 2020. China has one of the strictest lockdowns and from 2020 he has had relatively few cases since his 2021 RSV season and his exposure to COVID-19 has been limited. Despite the lack of RSV exposure, most of his RSV hospitalizations did not occur (Fig. 1D).

A non-peer-reviewed preprint by Wang L et al. reported that a child’s chance of developing RSV infection is almost doubled if COVID-19 infection was previously documented. Other diseases such as streptococcal tonsillitis may also be affected, and he has observed a 34% increase in post-COVID-19 patients. Immunodeficiency after COVID-19 may therefore also explain the observed scarlet fever surge in the UK.

Anthony Leonardi and Rui Proenca first described immunodeficiency and lymphopenia in an article published in Frontiers of Immunology. Phetsouphanh C et al. later validated that finding and found that in long-term COVID patients, functional impairment can persist for 8 months (the longest period studied). This dysfunction was characterized by “absence of highly activated innate immune cells and naive T and B cells.” A recent report by Shen XR et al. is of greatest interest. Identify SARS-CoV-2 RNA or antigen T cells. They hypothesized that direct infection through independent non-ACE-2 receptors would cause marked cell apoptosis.

No one knows how severe and long-lasting post-COVID-19 immunodeficiency will be. Of concern is that reinfection can commonly occur in adults and even more frequently in children. to SARS-CoV-2 naive infants do not develop “Robust memory B-cell responses”. Therefore, reinfection would probably be expected to occur more frequently in children than in adults. Significant and additive risks of long-term COVIDmultisystem inflammatory syndrome, and immunosuppression.

These findings also support the claim that infection can lead to stealthy hospitalizations and COVID-19 deaths. Highlight the inappropriateness of protocols such as those used by Massachusetts, to count only hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in patients who tested positive and received corticosteroids. These protocols may underestimate hospitalizations due to COVID-19 by a third and ignore her long-term COVID complications affecting many organ systems. After the acute phase of infection, COVID could almost double Total number of deaths due to COVID-19.

Most importantly, despite little to no evidence, the attribution that masking and lack of exposure are the primary causes of the surge in bacterial and viral infections has been incorporated into anti-public health conspiracy theorist narratives, It discourages critical interventions to mitigate these infections.