According to an Australian study, children can develop antibodies without being infected with the coronavirus

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers around the world have been studying why. Coronavirus While sparing children, it affects older people more. An interesting case study in Australia repeats this fact once again.

In a rare story, three children in Melbourne, whose parents were Covid-19 positive, developed antibodies without being infected with the coronavirus.

A 38-year-old mother and a 47-year-old father developed classic symptoms such as coughing, fever, and headaches. The two children had very mild symptoms and the youngest were completely asymptomatic despite sleeping in the same bed. parent.

Parents caught the virus at an early pandemic wedding in March this year and developed symptoms such as coughing, stuffy nose, fever, and headaches.

However, all five members of the family had the same immune response, with SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies that caused Covid-19, which was found in all human blood and saliva samples.

However, none of the children tested positive for Covid-19 with PCR throat and nose swabs, which are considered the gold standard for detecting infections.

Looking at this, researchers believe that when the virus enters the body, children can react strongly to the virus, hindering replication and limiting its efficacy.

Children make up a small proportion of coronavirus cases and deaths, and researchers are now trying to figure out why young people are less susceptible to Covid-19 than adults.

Timeline

In March, there was no understanding of the risks posed by the coronavirus, no extensive masking, and no social distance.

Seven days after the onset of parents’ symptoms, child 1 (a 9-year-old boy) developed mild cough, sore throat, abdominal pain, and loose stools.

A 7-year-old boy, the middle child, developed a mild cough and a runny nose, rhinitis. The youngest 5-year-old girl had no symptoms.

The children were repeatedly negative on the COVID-19 test and were asymptomatic or very minor.

The medics took blood and saliva samples from the entire family of five (two parents and three children) and swabs on the nose and throat every two to three days.

Researchers have found SARS-CoV-2 specific IgA antibodies in the saliva of the entire family. IgA is a specific type of antibody that is secreted into the mouth, nose, lungs, and intestines.

What the researchers say

“Despite close contact with infected parents, the SARS-CoV-2 PCR test was repeatedly negative in all children with minimal or no symptoms,” the researchers said in the journal Nature Communications. I am writing in a study published in.

“But children show similar cellular and SARS-CoV-2 specific antibody-mediated immune responses as their parents, and children are infected with SARS-CoV-2, but unlike adults, they are very effective. Showed an immune response. In limiting viral replication. ”

Scientists analyzed the samples in the laboratory to decipher the types of immune responses the children had and how they were compared to their parents.

“The youngest child who showed no symptoms showed the strongest antibody response,” said Dr. Melanie Neeland, who led the laboratory-based aspect of the report.

However, the children showed the same level of cytokine response as their parents.

Cytokines are important chemicals in the fight against coronavirus infection. Although they are involved in the fight against illness, they can get out of control by attacking their cells, become hay, and worsen the patient’s condition.

“Despite the apparent immune response, the discrepancy between virological PCR results and clinical serological tests highlights the limits to the sensitivity of nasopharyngeal PCR and current diagnostic serology in children,” the study said. They added.