Page 2 | Are some people just naturally immune to covid?

Worldgonecrazy · 01/10/2021 15:08

There are definitely people with immune systems that can recognise and respond to certain pathogens better than others. I remember reading there is a Caucasian tissue type that seems to be linked to better immunity to influenza, so it would not be unreasonable to think that some people’s immune system will respond to coronavirus. It’s probably why a massive number of people testing positive are completely asymptomatic.

hellcatspangle · 01/10/2021 15:12

I know several people who've had close contact within their household and not caught it. My DH never gets colds either, even when I have really bad ones and sleep in the same bed.

ApplesAreTheBaneOfMyLife · 01/10/2021 15:34

I think so. I’ve been in close contact with several people who’ve had it and haven’t caught it. People who’ve had more distant contact with the same people did catch it.

I know that I’ve not had Covid, even asymptomatically., because of antibody tests I’ve had as part of one of the vaccine trials. I have lots of antibodies from the vaccines but none of the ones you get from Covid.

AGreenerShadeofKale · 01/10/2021 15:39

Given that there were a tiny group of people who were immune to HIV/AIDS this would not be surprising with Covid19.

NeverDropYourMoonCup · 01/10/2021 15:48

@Changechangychange

There are usually some people who are immune to most diseases/viruses, I’ll be surprised if Covid is any different

Due to previous exposure, not because they are incapable of catching it.

If you are immune, your immune system recognises the virus and raises antibodies against it. Your immune system only recognises things it has been in contact with before. That doesn’t necessarily mean symptomatic disease.

My immune system recognizes my own body as an alien attacker, rather than it being my actual body, so I wouldn't dismiss the possibility that it could interpret anything that comes in as a threat and comprehensively kicks its arse as a precautionary measure the first time it happens.

I've been the one person standing in a mass noro outbreak multiple times when caring directly for the sick people. Around chickenpox repeatedly, nothing. Not one day off school unless it was due to joint issues or allergic reactions. Maybe a minor cold once or twice (I didn't know how to blow my nose at 13 as I'd never done it). I have been effectively bombproof around infectious diseases since I was five.

The only times I have been ill, properly, recognisably ill, have been when pregnant or taking immunosuppressive medication.

After all, there had to be an evolutionary advantage for a jacked up immune system or these conditions would have been selected out thousands of years ago. And not getting ill/dying on the first occasion a new pathogen appears would be a reasonable advantage, wouldn't it?

Egghead68 · 01/10/2021 20:43

Not scientific but I know a couple of people who have worked with Covid patients throughout, often with minimal PPE, and never caught it or developed antibodies.

I’ve always wondered whether they were genetically less susceptible or less susceptible due to some other type of prior exposure (neither of them grew up in this country).

Northernsoullover · 01/10/2021 20:57

I'm convinced my friend is. She spent Christmas with her two relatives who had covid (who told her it was a cold, in fairness they didn't have the 3 outdated symptoms) nursed her dying mother (from covid) then 4 weeks later her husband tested positive for covid. They had shared a bed. Not once has she had even a sniffle. Many negative PCRs.

MrsSkylerWhite · 01/10/2021 20:58

There must be some.

OfNick · 01/10/2021 21:27

I wonder if I'm immune so this was interesting to read. However, I'm unsure if I had covid before it was publicised as being in this country properly. I had been abroad November 2019, came back and was quite poorly. Who knows. Anyway... I've had close contact on numerous occasions, including my children who, especially my youngest, is normally glued to me! Looked after a poorly friend and still nothing. I'm not vaccinated and I haven't worn masks for a long time. I do have a condition which makes me very fatigued but apart from that I'm very rarely ill with normal colds or viruses, think maybe once every few years...

amicissimma · 01/10/2021 22:24

Remember the Diamond Princess? They tested just about everyone on board but only 1 in 5 was positive, although, unaware of the presence of the virus, they'd all been mixing freely at first. Some couples, sharing a cabin, had one test positive and one negative.

I remember a doctor on Radio 4 saying that there had been a lot of OC43 about in around in the winter of 2019-20. That's a coronavirus; maybe some people had a degree of cross-immunity from having it?

It seems that defence to infection is complicated.

ABitOfAShitShow · 01/10/2021 22:37

Apparently one of the blood types (O, I think) has more natural immunity to it. There was quite a lot in the media about it at one time.

Summersdreaming · 02/10/2021 00:47

My sister got sent to work on the covid ICU in April 2020 for about 6 months and never caught it, then her dp and dd had delta and she didn't catch it, then she was a close contact of me when I had delta and antibody tests are still negative so I would say that's as immune as you could be.

TurquoiseBaubles · 02/10/2021 00:57

dd was working on a covid ward (with no ppe) and then on a covid icu for the whole of last year.

She has never had covid and has tested negative for antibodies for covid.

I'm amazed, but I expect that since she is young (25) she must have some sort of t-cell immunity. Interestingly all of her friends bar one are the same - young nurses who have never tested positive for covid and have tested negative for covid antibodies.

It's a weird virus.

TurquoiseBaubles · 02/10/2021 00:59

As an aside dd has only ever been prescribed antibiotics once in her entire life. When my other children had colds/flu/throat or chest infections she sailed through her childhood with absolutely nothing.

She has the constitution of the proverbial ox which is very useful for someone who has taken up nursing as a career

Bedsheets4knickers · 02/10/2021 01:23

Yep been out there working 40hrs a week since the start I've been totally fine (lucky)

Cookerhood · 02/10/2021 08:40

@amicissimma

Remember the Diamond Princess? They tested just about everyone on board but only 1 in 5 was positive, although, unaware of the presence of the virus, they'd all been mixing freely at first. Some couples, sharing a cabin, had one test positive and one negative.

I remember a doctor on Radio 4 saying that there had been a lot of OC43 about in around in the winter of 2019-20. That's a coronavirus; maybe some people had a degree of cross-immunity from having it?

It seems that defence to infection is complicated.

The original strain was must less infectious and had much lower household spread

India92 · 02/10/2021 09:00

I agree OP.

My DP worked on the covid ward with the most basic PPE at the start of the pandemic, and continues to see covid patients today, but he's had nothing, not even a sniffle! All tests negative, and same for me too.

We are in our 20s which is what I'm guessing has helped us?

confuseddotcom090 · 02/10/2021 12:11

This should not be a surprise? I thought it was well known that some people (more in Asia) have pre existing resistance to infection thanks to prior beta coronavirus infections. There is a degree of cross immunity.

Even on the Diamond Princess on 17pct actually caught it. Despite being cooped up together, including some sharing cabins.

AlfonsoTheDinosaur · 02/10/2021 12:17

@AGreenerShadeofKale

Given that there were a tiny group of people who were immune to HIV/AIDS this would not be surprising with Covid19.

That's what I was going to say.

lightand · 02/10/2021 12:55

I read, middle of last year or even earlier, that 5 out of 6 people will never get covid. Not sure where I read that to.

I tried googling it recently, and couldnt find anything.

But fwiw, the 5 out of 6 seems to be about right to me, just going anecdotally by the numbers around me.

greenweepingwillow · 02/10/2021 16:33

I dont know but 3 of my dc had it last year, I had fairlry close contact with them in the house. I have worked seeing patinets in their homes throughout, without ppe at the begining. I have also worked on wards where there were pts with covid (not covid wards, but where some of the pts had happened to also have covid) I have never had symptoms, regular twice weekly negative lfts, negative pcrs when dc had it, and 2 negative antibody tests so im fairly sure Ive never had it! ( I am now double vaxxed)

HungryHippo11 · 02/10/2021 18:04

been doing 2x week lateral flow tests and pcr tests when family and work colleagues had it so not been asymptomatic as far as I know
You could have had it asymptomstically early on before LFTs etc were available.

Cookerhood · 02/10/2021 19:04

Interesting article here
www.ukri.org/news/why-some-individuals-have-stronger-sars-cov-2-defences/

MissMaple82 · 02/10/2021 19:20

I have worked throughout the pandemic in supermarkets and never wore a mask due to being asthmatic, I've lost count of the amount of positive people I’ve come into contact with as well as lived with and I've never had the slightest whiff of covid myself. In fact at one point I was wishing I'd get it just so I could get a much needed 10 day break!

TrainspottingWelsh · 02/10/2021 21:48

I'm going from an old memory, but I remember reading something years ago about the Black Death, and why some seemed to be immune to it. It wasn't a mutation developed during the Black Death, the theory was the survivors had the same mutation present as those immune to HIV now. Iirc they managed to link some people to ancestors from Eyam, but the data was too limited for it to be more than a theory.

I imagine most people with natural immunity are actually more like me, in that they have the constitution of an ox and develop immunity through exposure without ever realising they've had it.