Are some people just naturally immune?

[Sailorsue]

My friend hasn’t had any vaccines (not a crazy anti vaxxer, just hesitant currently).
She works in a local comprehensive, her partner works in retail. So both key workers.
She has never had covid as far as we’re aware, yet she’s been in contact with it several times through her job. She also has a child at pre school and they’ve been exposed to it, yet she’s never tested positive.
She thinks they all had it in the first wave in 2020 as they were all quite unwell then, but obviously tests didn’t exist in the same way as now.

Some research has shown that there's a genetic component to how likely you are to get severe Covid::www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2818-3#ref-CR2

I don't think scientists fully understand yet. It's entirely possible a lot of people went undiagnosed in those early stages. In my home town from December 2019 so many people had horrific cold/cough (two thirds of kids were off school at one point) I got a terrible cough back end of December 2019 that lasted until March. But covid wasn't officially in uk then. Ssome people may have had it and built immunity up but that's obviously not the case for everyone. Some people have no symptoms so could have had it and not known.

I've wondered this too. Last month my dh and 2 ds's that live with us all caught Covid. Even though I was in a car with 2 of them just before they were diagnosed (both showing symptoms at the time) I never tested positive. I work in a school and have worked around other teachers/students that have tested positive, but again I'm always negative. Of course now I've probably just jinxed myself.

Similar here. We’ve tested with PCRs an awful lot more than most as well. None of us have had it, despite the fact we’ve picked up everything else going this term! DH has worked since day one of the pandemic, we have one in school and two in different nurseries.

I’m double jabbed as is DH but the children are too young.

In the first wave we took dad out of care and he went home with my brother and family. Too late unfortunately as he tested positive 7 days later. After developing symptoms. Middle of winter, so little ventilation during that time. Mostly hanging around in one room all together as country in full lockdown. Tried to isolate him as much as possible after positive result but it was difficult. Disregarded precautions when it was clear he had to be hospitalised 5 days later….hugs all round etc when ambulance called. Brother and sil and kids all tested negative.

Odd.

My middle child never had it even when the rest of us did. She was being tested all the time, pcr three times but never caught it. She shares a room with her siblings and this is a very small house. 🤷‍♀️

I wonder if you're exposed to Covid quite often whether your immune systems is frequently getting primed or reinvigorated so you're able to fight it off the each time you're exposed, so it never actually develops into an infection?

So if you had a vaccine, but were exposed every month or so for, say, six months, would your immunity not wane in the same way that someone who had been vaccinated but hadn't been exposed at all over that period?

I'm not epidemiologist, but that seems to make sense... but equally it could be nonsense and I've misunderstood how the immune system works.

We think we had it in December 2019

Dd caught it again earlier this year
however if it wasn’t for the fact she tests daily for work and a few of her friends went down with Covid and rang her a few minutes after she found out through work that she had tested positive she wouldn’t have known she had it. Absolutely no symptoms.

We had been sat on the sofa with her, had hugged and kissed her and shared food with her. No one in our household tested positive.

DD I think has still got immunity as she has spent the last 7 weeks being within 2 metres of 14,000 individual children. She had 2 days off per week and her relief (triple jabbed) caught Omnicron and was really ill

I believe how bad or how well you get through Covid is more to do with your genetics than if you are “vulnerable” People from or with links to certain countries or areas of the world I have noticed tend to really suffer more than others.
I think we shielded the wrong “vulnerable”

I have friends who lost so many relatives all from specific areas/countries yet Dh and mil who both are extremely health compromised caught Covid and brushed it off as a minor 24hour inconvenient bug

I think we need to look more into the genetics factor

I think probably some people are naturally immune.

I personally think I am but I'll never know unless I prove not to be.

I also think I'm immune to flu, never had it while rest of family over the years all been in bed with it and me caring for them.

Son had Covid and I didn't distance from him and didn't get it at all. Vaccinated now though but I know that doesn't stop you getting it.

There must be so much that we don’t yet understand about how Covid affects different people. I’ve been isolating with my NHS Dr daughter when she had covid and didn’t catch it despite not social distancing. This was prevaccination. My son has been at uni in London throughout and as far as he knows hasn’t caught covid yet (regular LFT testing always negative) even though his girlfriend who he lives with has had it recently and rates have been very high in his part of London. We’ve done nothing to avoid it at all. Eaten out, been abroad, even sung regularly in a choir and performed in concerts. No idea if it is luck or genetics.
We know plenty of people round here who have had covid twice and been really quite unwell both times. I would love to know the answer to this.

I genuinely thought this was me- I work in very close contact with lots of people daily carrying out lots of aerosol generated procedures in the mouth.

May have possibly had Covid March 2020 before testing was a thing.

I caught Covid (perhaps 2nd time round) just over a week ago. How I didn’t catch it from work, I have no idea. But I ended up catching it from a party where almost everyone ended up testing positive.

So don’t rely on that.

On another note, my symptoms were pretty much a flu, but I have complete loss of smell. And I mean complete. Which I didn’t get in the ‘first Covid’ which makes me query if I’ve ever had it before now.

She’s probably had it and had no symptoms. Immunity can wain however.

We've been thinking this for a while. We had covid in March 2020. Me and DS were mildly ill but DH was hospitalised. Last Christmas FIL was very unwell with covid, was intubated at new year and the family called in to say goodbye (he's ok now, somehow his body realised it wasn't his time) step daughter was in the car with him and in the house for quite some time but tested negative throughout. We couldn't work it out 🤷 unfortunately, she has tested positive this Christmas instead 😔

My partner and I almost never catch colds or flu, in fact we are very healthy for our ages. It stands to reason that someone who has a healthy lifestyle and a good diet will also have a great immune system so is far less likely to pick up infections.
We are also up to date with all our vaccinations.

Yes, I think there is research into pre-existing immunity, though it isn't clear how prevalent it is.

I haven't had a cold since the end of Nov 2019. A really nasty one with a cough, temp and lost of taste and found it hard to breathe . Blood tests didn't pinpoint anything.
So far, not had official covid yet. But I am being very careful and look after myself as I can't afford to get ill.

I wonder if blood type makes a difference. I'm 'O'.

I have not had covid and neither has my son.

I am unvaccinated and worked all the way through lockdown in a large sector with many different people.

My son has been with many many children in the last 2 years who caught covid all around him and still he hasn’t had it.

We test regularly.

Also never tested positive here. I have worked in person in my job with teens and adults right through apart from around 6 weeks in lockdown 1. According to a lot of people in my profession (psychology/psychotherapy), both I and my entire client base should be dead by now because working in person is SO DANGEROUS OMG and I am LITERALLY KILLING PEOPLE

I had a bug of some kind in summer - negative LFT and then negative PCR. Recently had a mild winter cold, again the same, both tests came up negative, so I guess it wasn’t the rona. (Of course both times I isolated and didn’t work in person until tests came back). I have a theory that I did have it at the end of 2019 but of course can’t prove it as no testing then. I had a horrid respiratory virus that resulted in pneumonia and the cough lasted for months. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t - I’ll never know!

I’m not vaccinated at all and only just got omicron likely through DD at school. Ive been around so many positive people in the last couple of years and not caught it. Perhaps a mixture of luck, being extra careful, mask and hand washing etc and being a bit of a homebody!

I have been unwell for 2 days and started recovering. DD lost sense of smell, nothing more.

Yep I truly believe we are the family who can not catch it . We've been so exposed through my work , kids schools was rife esp this last month . We've had 3 trips into London in the past 2 months . We test twice weekly . Nothing 🤷🏻‍♀️

[quote HardbackWriter]Some research has shown that there's a genetic component to how likely you are to get severe Covid::www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2818-3#ref-CR2[/quote]
Very interesting article @HardbackWriter but if I am understanding it correctly the risk halpotype is most prevalent in south east Asia (where recorded deaths from covid are low) and almost missing from South America where deaths are extremely high.
Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

Dh and Dd have never caught it.

All triple jabbed now but Dd especially has been in close contact with covid many many times. Through university, when I had, various friends including flatmates. Dh didn't isolate from me when I had it, plus he's been in contact with friends/colleagues/clients without catching it too.

Dd has had immunity tests and they've been negative for virus acquired antibodies. She now has vaccine acquired antibodies but not infection ones.

I guess some people must have done form of natural immunity levels so how.

@blueshoes

dHTPri when you got jabbed, did your body react at all to the jab?

Yep I was really unwell with two out of the three

I’ve not had covid and I work on a ward with covid contact pre and post vaccine with basic ppe. My siblings haven’t either and work in public facing roles including in a school. I’ve only been ill once and that was relate autumn and pcr was negative as were daily LFTs. It was a virus I caught from a patient i think.

I’ve had antibody tests and regularly lft. I honestly think I’ve not had it.

Are those of you who've never had covid completely unvaccinated? That would imply natural immunity.

I understand that there are indeed people who are intrinsically immune to covid. Not just asymptomatic but they will never test positive.