Does COVID really damage your immune system and make you more susceptible to infections?

Sometimes these infections can be very serious. In the UK, hospitalizations surged during the winter months, further straining health services.

this is, COVID It damages the immune system, making infected people more susceptible to other infections, such as the flu.

Another idea put forward to explain the surge in respiratory viruses is that children “missed” common childhood infections at the height of the pandemic, thereby creating an “immune debt”. are now more vulnerable to these infections. But how credible are these explanations?

COVID and our immune system

SARS-CoV-2 has been shown to evade host immunity, especially new variants. (Source: Pixabay)

The human immune system has evolved to combat various infectious diseases. There are a variety of weapons that can be deployed that not only work together to eradicate infectious agents, but can also memorize them for a quicker and more coordinated response during subsequent encounters.

Similarly, many infectious agents have developed tricks to try to evade us. immune systemFor example, a parasite called Schistosoma mansoni camouflages itself to avoid the immune system detecting it.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has a similarly clever trick. Like many other viruses, it has been shown to evade host immunity, especially new variants. Recent studies have shown that it can interfere with the ability of immune cells to detect it intracellularly. Although this is of concern, it is not clear whether such changes affect immunity to other infections.

Short-term changes in a person’s immune defenses are normal when exposed to an infectious disease. In response to SARS-CoV-2, several studies have white blood cells The number of lymphocytes increases. These lymphocytes also display changes in features typical of cell activation, such as changes in surface proteins.

Such changes, taken out of context, may sound dramatic to the non-expert (called “confirmation bias”). However, they are normal and only indicate that the immune system is functioning normally.Studies have confirmed that for most people, the immune system regains balance after recovery.

some exceptions

SARS-CoV-2, like many viruses, does not affect everyone equally. Certain groups, including the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions, Diabetes Or being obese can make you more susceptible to serious illness when you get COVID.

This vulnerability is associated with an irregular immune response to SARS-CoV-2, which causes inflammation. Here, for example, we see a decrease in the number of lymphocytes and changes in immune cells known as phagocytic cells.

Still, for most of these vulnerable people, the immune system returns to normal over the next two to four months. Changes are maintained even more than 6 months after infection.

The significance of these findings is not clear and will require longer-term studies that consider the effects of underlying health conditions on immune function. there is no evidence to

What about the long COVID?

Emerging evidence suggests the most striking and persistent differences in immune cells after COVID infection occurs in people who develop it. long covid.

So far, there are no data demonstrating long-term immunodeficiency in COVID patients. But an overactive immune response can actually do harm, and the changes in immune cells seen in his COVID patients over time appear to be consistent with a vigorous immune response. This may explain the different post-infection consequences and symptoms faced by people who have had Covid-19 for a long time.

indemnity liability

Lack of exposure due to lockdown impairs immune development, especially in children, by causing the immune system to “forget” previous knowledge.(Source: Pecsel)

The ‘immune debt’ hypothesis suggests that the immune system is like a muscle, requiring near-constant exposure to infectious agents to maintain function. Lack of exposure due to lockdown therefore damaged immune development, especially in children, by causing the immune system to “forget” previous knowledge. presumably more vulnerable to

Although this idea has received a lot of attention, there is no immunological evidence to support it. It is not true to say that we always need a background of infection for our immune system to function. Our immune system is very robust and powerful.For example, immunological memory for 1918 influenza The pandemic is still evident 90 years later.

Also, it is not strictly true to say that children were not exposed to the virus in the early days of the pandemic. However, as UK schools reopened in autumn 2020 with a range of precautionary measures, children were still exposed to infectious diseases, including COVID-19.

The virus that causes the common cold has not completely disappeared. For example, in 2021 there was a large outbreak of his RSV in the UK.

Nevertheless, lockdown and other protective measures probably reduced exposure to viruses, and for some children, the time and age of first exposure to viruses such as RSV changed. This, combined with a high COVID background and relatively low uptake of COVID and flu vaccines, could make this season particularly bad.

However, changes in the timing of exposure that lead to spikes in infections do not necessarily mean that an individual’s immunity is compromised.

Our knowledge of the immune response to COVID is expanding rapidly. The most consistent findings are how well vaccines protect us from the worst effects of SARS-CoV-2, and how well our immune systems are functioning exactly as they should after vaccination. indicates that there is

However, the discovery of altered immune signatures in some recovered patients and those with longer duration of COVID requires further investigation.

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