So you had COVID and are now recovering.No ongoing symptoms and fortunately does not appear to have developed .
But what effect has COVID had on the immune system as a whole?
It’s still early days. However, there is growing evidence that there are changes in the immune system that can put people at risk for other infections.
Here’s what we know so far.
series of viral infections
This winter has seen many of us in what seems to be a continuous round of viral illness. . Even if you recover from one infection, you can still get another.
Since then, infectious diseases such as monkeypox and polio have revived worldwide.
Can they all be connected? Could COVID somehow weaken our immune system and make us more susceptible to other infections?
There are many reasons why infectious diseases emerge in new places, after decades, or in new populations. Therefore, we cannot jump to the conclusion that COVID infection caused these and other viral infections.
However, weeks after symptoms subside, evidence builds up of COVID’s adverse effects on the immune system of healthy individuals.
What happens if you get infected with a virus?
There are three possible outcomes after viral infection.
1) The immune system clears and heals the infection (e.g. rhinovirus, which causes the common cold)
2) The immune system fights and “hides” the virus, then recovers from a dormant virus in the body (such as the varicella-zoster virus that causes chickenpox).
3) The immune system fights and despite its best efforts, the virus remains ‘chronic’ and replicates at a very low level (this can occur with the hepatitis C virus).
Ideally, everyone wants option 1 to get rid of the virus. In fact, most of us have eliminated SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. It does so through a complex process that uses many different parts of our immune system.
However, international evidence suggests that changes to immune cells after SARS-CoV-2 infection may have other effects. It can affect our ability to fight other pathogens such as bacteria and fungi, as well as other viruses.
How much do we know
An Australian study found that SARS-CoV-2 alters immune cell balance up to 24 weeks after the infection has cleared.
There were changes in the relative numbers and types of immune cells among people who recovered from COVID compared to healthy, uninfected people.
This includes changes to the cells of the innate immune system (providing non-specific immune responses) and the adaptive immune system (specific immune responses that target recognized foreign invaders).
Another study focused specifically on dendritic cells. Dendritic cells are immune cells that are often considered the body’s “first line of defense”.
Researchers have found that there are fewer of these cells in circulation after people recover from COVID. It had a low ability to activate the leukocytes that were injected into the body.
Other studies have found varying effects on T cells and other types of white blood cells known as B cells (cells involved in antibody production).
After SARS-CoV-2 infection, one study found evidence that many of these cells were activated and “exhausted.” This suggests that the cells may be dysfunctional and unable to adequately combat subsequent infection.In other words, persistent activation of these immune cells after SARS-CoV-2 infection may affect other inflammatory diseases.
One study found that people who recovered from COVID had changes in different types of B cells. This includes alterations in cell metabolism, which can affect the function of these cells. Given that B cells are important for antibody production, the exact meaning is unclear.
Could this affect how our bodies produce antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 if we encounter SARS-CoV-2 again? More broadly, could it affect our ability to produce against other viruses, bacteria, or fungi? The study said no.
A mask-wearing notice is seen at a train station in Sydney, Australia, 27 July 2022. sauce: Getty / Xinhua News Agency/Xinhua News Agency via Getty Ima
What impact will these changes have?
One of the main concerns is whether such changes might affect the immune system’s response to other infections, or whether these changes may exacerbate or cause other chronic diseases. whether it is possible to
Therefore, more research is needed to understand the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection on the human immune system.
For example, it is not yet known how long these changes to the immune system will last and whether the immune system will recover. We don’t know if it causes chronic disease. Research on this is ongoing.
What we do know is that having a healthy immune system and being vaccinated (if a vaccine is developed) is extremely important to maximizing your chances of fighting infection. is.
