Since the spread of the Corona virus around the world, the infections among children were not strong, and children were able to withstand the effects of the Corona virus, which prompted researchers and scientists to try to find out the reasons, and the results revealed that children have a more effective innate immune system than adults.
The effect of children being infected with the Corona virus
Although some children were infected with the virus, most of them had mild symptoms or no symptoms at all, and unlike other respiratory viruses, such as: influenza, Corona does not infect children as strongly as it affects adults or the elderly.
Kevan Herold, professor of immunobiology and internal medicine at Yale University, said in a study, that the innate response, which includes mucus in the nose and throat, helps trap harmful microbes, and it resembles a moat, which keeps the attackers away, according to what was quoted by the “Wall Street Journal.” “.
Herold added that innate immunity also includes proteins and cells that stimulate the body’s primary immune response, likening this to artillery shells fired from a fortress while the enemy begins to invade.
Herold pointed out that innate immunity does not have the same type of memory, as it depends on patterns associated with harmful microbes in general; Immunologists have found that children’s immune systems have higher levels of certain innate molecules and increased innate responses compared to adults.
Experts believe this is key to helping children better fight the virus that causes COVID-19. The Herolds study, which compared 65 young patients and 60 adults who contracted corona in New York City, revealed that children were less dependent on the adaptive immune system than adults, because they had a stronger innate response.
Nasal and throat swabs from 12 children and 27 adults showed more active genes involved in innate immunity in children, and recent research indicated that the risk of infection in children with the Corona virus appears similar to the risk of infection in adults; Children are better at spreading the virus than early studies suggested.
Dr. Betsy Herold, a pediatric infectious disease physician at Children’s Hospital in Montefiore in the Bronx, said that some children need to be hospitalized when they have corona, noting that some are still experiencing symptoms long after the virus has been eliminated.
Children are also at risk of developing multisystem inflammatory syndrome, or MIS-C, a rare condition that can occur in children several weeks after infection with corona. MIS-C can also lead to organ damage or even death.