Are some people just naturally immune to covid?

[Betinamay]

This year I’ve sat next to 2 people at work who were coughing and sneezing and went on to test positive to coronavirus. I’ve been slobbered over by my 2 dc when they had coronavirus and I’ve not made any attempts to socially distance from my dh when he had coronavirus. I have so far not caught it though and 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.

I've wondered this as I've worked in a care home throughout the pandemic which has had multiple outbreaks and I've had minimal ppe, basically just a blue surgical mask, apron and gloves all the way though and I've been tested weekly and never had a sniff of it. I was also in university right at the time it struck. I also have three colleagues who have never had it of which two are over 50 and worked in the care home before they even got basic ppe. It's strange as other colleagues have had it twice 🤷🏼‍♂️

I think my dd's friend is naturally immune. She's been heavily exposed - sleeping in the same bedroom as someone who tested positive and then another time looking after a family member who was really sick with covid (actually going in to their bedroom and being the one providing hands on help). She didn't get covid at all.

edition.cnn.com/2020/07/30/health/t-cells-coronavirus-study-wellness/index.html

A colleague was isolating due to their partner having covid. They did a PCR day 1 and at end of isolation as well as daily lateral flows and she never had a positive result nor any symptoms. They were sharing a bed through out etc. So odd.

I am wondering the same. DH has had it twice, been vaccinated etc.

He is never ill. I get every cough or cold going around the office usually. I am not yet vaccinated as just given birth.

I've been wfh and cautious but the second time DH had it he had no symptoms, only picked up by a test, taken Monday, results Friday, we'd been sleeping next to each other and were having a snog on the sofa when he got the results.

I guess must have had an unsymptomatic case or had it before it was news?

Yes pre exisiting t cell immunity is a thing. They discovered this was the case during the original Sars outbreak. Blood samples taken years before the existence of the virus showed t cell immunity and some of those that were exposed still had t cell immunity 17 years later. I'm another who's been exposed many times and never tested positive, as is the case with many people I know.

@lightand

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.

That doesn't sound right, there have been nearly 8 million positive tests in the UK, maybe more now as I looked it up a few days ago, and more every day plus all the ones that haven't been tested which could be as many again

The general view I've heard is that everyone will catch it at one time or another which seems much more reasonable

Any figures from the early days will have long been superseded by variants

I don't know if I had it March 2020. It was a cough, headache, fatigue. Wasn't that bad but lasted 2 weeks.

I've been in close contact with it several times since then and haven't caught it.

So roughly one in 8 have tested positive. That would suggest quite a high level of natural immunity or people whose immune systems are capable of minimising symptoms to the level of unnoticeable.

I know ONS did the large antibody study, for both natural and vaccine antibodies, I’m not sure if such a large scale T cell immunity study has been carried out yet,

Regarding variants, natural immunity doesn’t rely on perfect matches. As with the rapidly mutating cold and flu viruses, our amazing immune systems can recognise that a virus is similar to another virus that it already knows how to deal with, and react accordingly. That’s why exposure to certain flu viruses provides immunity to others.

Lots of people have tested positive, but a US analysis of tests from last winter showed that many were actually influenza A or B. There was a paper published on it.
It was a nonsense that flu had disappeared. All the hospitals wanted it to be covid as well, as they got paid more, so they kept quiet about it.

I don't see why it would be any different here.

Lots of people think they've had it thanks to a positive PCR, but only an antibody test will tell you for sure.

I’ve also been wondering about this recently. We MAY have had it very early on, before it kicked off properly - dh had a cough and temp, no one rose caught it.

Dh has been exposed multiple times at work. The child ds1 sits next to at school and the child that ds2 sits opposite at school both had it recently, as well as several of ds2’s friends. We take no additional precautions to protect ourselves - no hand sanitiser, etc. Yet none of us have caught it - dc test twice weekly (lft).

I have a friend who's worked on Covid wards during the peaks, works in patient-facing NHS the rest of the time, all her colleagues have had Covid, she still hasn't. She also had antibody tests done last summer for the REACT study and nothing showed up.

However, she (and I) both had a terrible cough and cold in March 2020, which we're assuming was Covid and has given her immunity but her antibodies faded quite quickly. Either that or she has natural immunity!

@confuseddotcom090

Lots of people have tested positive, but a US analysis of tests from last winter showed that many were actually influenza A or B. There was a paper published on it. It was a nonsense that flu had disappeared. All the hospitals wanted it to be covid as well, as they got paid more, so they kept quiet about it.

I don't see why it would be any different here.

Lots of people think they've had it thanks to a positive PCR, but only an antibody test will tell you for sure.

This is utter bollocks. Do you have a link to the paper? Covid is not flu, they're not even related (like a SARS virus would be) - they're completely different viruses. If you test positive for Covid you have it.

Flu is less infectious than Covid, so the lockdowns and social distancing did a good job of massively reducing flu numbers.

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.

The norovirus went through our family. Four of us wanted to die; one felt a bit nauseous for 18 hours! How come my two DC had d like 22 times, and v 24 times - they literally could not move without being sick and the other DC had a bit of nausea?

I have wondered this as I have been around around a number of people who have covid/tested positive in the next day or two and I have never tested positive. I've had antibody tests which show no antibodies from infection. That said, my DS has covid now so we shall see...

I've had 2 antibody tests, one of which was a t cell one which is supposed to be able to detect immunity after antibodies fade. Both negative. This despite being unvaccinated and exposed to it by my DH who I brought food to and chatted to etc when he was sick (although I wore a mask once he tested positive). Dd attended in person school all last year and she hasn't been sick either. The 2 of us were very sick around Christmas 2019 with a very bad cold. Maybe it was the other coronavirus mentioned earlier in the thread which seems to provide immunity? I had thought maybe it was covid but doesn't seem likely with the negative antibody tests. I also know several other unvaccinated people who haven't had it either, one of whom actually treats covid patients. It's a weird virus.

There are people naturally immune to various viruses without previous exposure. I remember reading before about how some people have natural immunity to norovirus. Maybe I'm one of them because I've never had a vomiting bug my entire adult life (touch wood!)

Interesting topic. DH and I both double vaxxed. Kids all had it but we didn’t get it. DH had a temperature one evening and felt symptomatic but felt better a day or two later. Two kids were really unwell. Middle daughter who is 11 was asymptomatic but we think she had it during the first lockdown. We are wondering why we didn’t catch it though we were careful. I’ve wondered if I had cross reactivity to a really bad virus I had 10 years ago where I had a cough I couldn’t got rid of. I was unwell for about a month. Anyway possibly not!

I find it hard to believe I haven't had it. Currently live in an area with one of the highest rates in the country. Work in a school and since September 2020 we've had lots of cases; our current case rate is through the roof. Been a close contact several times. Had an antibody test, nothing. Interestingly I was also one of those teenagers who had two positive heaf tests in the late 90s, so I never had my BCG jab. Would love to grill Chris Whitty to see if there's any correlation!

Another here who is amazed DH has avoided it. Myself and my two children tested positive after contact with grandparents who subsequently tested positive. DH has tested regularly throughout for his job (both PCR and LFT) and has never caught it. We did not socially distance from each other and certainly not from our 4 year old children. Carried on as normal in our household during isolation and nothing!

Those who have had negative antibody tests - the antibodies from infection don't hang around that long, typically only around 6 months, less if a very mild case. So if you had it in the first wave you probably wouldn't see those antibodies now - instead it would be your T and B cells which kick into action and protect you.

I’m another with auto-immune condition and no covid (ditto dh) despite being around it a lot at the start and recently. Dh been around covid all the way through. Dc all mixed with covid people and no sign either. No diagnosed auto immune problems there

So if you had it in the first wave you probably wouldn't see those antibodies now - instead it would be your T and B cells which kick into action and protect you.

I also took a t cell test which is available here. It was negative even though I really was sure I had it

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.

It's definitely not 'O blood types have more immunity to covid' -we're all up for grabs- but studies have shown that those with O+ blood type tend to have milder symptoms/less chance of being hospitalised for covid. Those with blood type A seem to have a more severe response to the virus/more hospitalisations. So although no blood type makes you 'more' or 'less' immune to covid, the severity of the virus seems to be linked to blood type.

Me too. Seem to be immune. Odd.

So many people are asymptomatic, you probably had it already - you may even have given it to them without knowing!