Children who never suffered from COVID-19 may also have coronavirus antibodies

The fact that kids haven’t faced the onslaught of COVID-19 as much as adults has been a great relief for parents since the pandemic hit. But what is it that makes fewer kids catch the novel coronavirus than adults? Why do they have mild infections or symptoms even if they are hit by COVID-19? A research published in Science offers an insight into this puzzle and explains why children are more protected against this virus than adults.   

What does the study say? 
The research, published in Science and conducted by scientists at the Francis Crick Institute in London, reveals that unlike adults, kids had antibodies from certain strains of the coronavirus family that cause common cold. These antibodies offer them immunity against SARS-CoV-2, the strain that leads to COVID-19 infection.  

The researchers mentioned that the specific antibodies they probed into peaked at 62 per cent among kids aged between 6 and 16 years. They also found that approximately 5 per cent adults had these antibodies in their blood but the figure is 43 per cent while it comes to kids.  

Where do these coronavirus antibodies come from? 
Antibodies are proteins that help drive away infections and prevent the relapse of a disease. The findings of this study suggest that children, not hit by COVID-19 have antibodies of some strains of coronavirus similar to SARS-CoV-2 in their blood. This lends them a pre-existing immunity to the novel coronavirus. Several experts have pointed out that adults catch cold only once or twice a year while children get more of this infection during this span. This exposes them to a larger number of strains from the coronavirus family than adults and leaves them with longer-lasting antibodies.   

The Bottomline 
While this London research highlights the protective role of certain coronavirus antibodies in children, more studies are required for a conclusive opinion. Experts speculate that there could be several other possible reasons behind kids being relatively less affected by COVID-19. One of them could be the difference in immune response to this virus between children and adults.