According to the new study, people who have had seasonal or common colds in the past can get protection from Covid-19. The study, published by infectious disease experts at the University Of Rochester Medical Center, also suggests that immunity to COVID-19 can be long-lasting or maybe even a lifetime. Read further to learn more about the study on common cold gives protection from COVID-19.

A New Study Says Common Cold Gives Protection from COVID-19

The study published in the Journal mBio is the first to prove that the Covid-19 causing virus SARS-CoV-2 induces memory cells, also proves that immune cells can detect pathogens, produce antibodies to destroy them, and remember them in the future.

The next time that pathogen tries to enter the human body, those memory cells can jump into action even faster to clear the virus/infection. It happens because memory cells can live for decades, and also could protect Coronavirus survivors from subsequent infections for a longer time, as reported by the researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) in the US.

This study also reports cross-reactivity of memory cells that means B cells that once attacked the cold-causing Covid-19 virus appeared to also recognize SARS-CoV-2. The researchers believe that people who have been infected by a common COVID-19 may have some degree of pre-existing immunity to Coronavirus.

The study lead by the author Mark Sangster, a research professor at URMC said that “When we looked at blood samples from people who were recovering from COVID-19, it looked like many of them had a pre-existing pool of memory B cells that could recognize SARS-CoV-2 and rapidly produce antibodies that could attack it.”

The research is based on a comparison of blood samples from 26 people who were recovering from Covid-19 and also includes 21 healthy blood donors whose blood samples were collected six to ten years ago, a long time ago they haven’t been exposed or haven’t developed any symptoms to COVID-19.

From those samples, the study members measured levels of memory antibodies and B cells that target particular parts of the spike protein that exists in each coronavirus and is essential for helping the virus-infected cells.

The Spike protein acts a little different in each coronavirus, but one of its components called the S2 subunit stays the same across all of the viruses.

The researchers said memory B cells unable to tell the difference between the Spike subunits of the various coronavirus and attack indiscriminately. They discovered that was true for beta-coronavirus which is a subclass including two cold-causing viruses and also MERS, SARS, and SARS-CoV-2.

This study has found that the common cold gives protection from COVID-19. But it didn’t show the level of protection provided by cross-reactive memory B cells and what will be the outcomes on patients, as stated by the researchers.