Tag Archives: immune system

disease, Health

A sizable English study showed the sheer number of individuals with Covid-19 antibodies declined significantly

Leave a comment

A sizable English study showed the sheer number of individuals with Covid-19 antibodies declined significantly throughout the summer, suggesting that having the virus may well not confer long-lasting immunity from future infection.

The survey of 365,000 adults in England who tested themselves in the home using a finger-prick test showed the proportion of men and women testing positive for #Covid-19 antibodies declined by 26.5% between June 20—12 weeks following the peak of infections when looking at the country—and Sept. 28.

The outcome also suggested that folks who did not display symptoms were expected to lose detectable antibodies before they showed symptoms. The analysis, conducted by Imperial College London and Ipsos Mori polling organization, was funded because of the British government, which announced the outcome and published the analysis on Monday night. Other experts have not yet reviewed the outcome.

Doctors do not yet know whether antibodies confer any effective immunity against reinfection by Covid-19. However, just because they are doing, and the link between this survey is confirmed, it suggests the outlook of widespread, long-term herd immunity into the virus should be tough to achieve. Herd immunity occurs when enough people in a population develop an immune response, either through previous infection or vaccination, so the virus cannot spread quickly, and those who are not immune have protection.

The findings showed that 18-24-year-olds lost antibodies at a slower rate than those aged 75 and over. The littlest decline of 14.9% was of men and women aged between 18 and 24 years, together with the largest decline of 29% was of men and women aged 75 and over.

The analysis reflects earlier smaller trials and implies that antibodies into the virus decline over 6-12 months after infection, such as other seasonal coronaviruses, for instance, the common cold. The analysis does not indicate whether other kinds of immune responses—such as that contributed by so-called T cells—would help drive back reinfection.

The analysis showed that 6% of England’s population had antibodies on June 20, compared to 4.4% on Sept. 28. After September, 9% of individuals displayed antibodies in London, compared to just 1.6% in all affected regions when looking at England’s southwest.

Among ethnic groups, 13.8% of Black people tested with antibodies at end-September and 9.7% of Asians—mainly South Asians. This is compared to 3.6% of white people. Minority ethnic groups, when looking at the U.K., such as the U.S., have suffered disproportionately through the virus.
Reference
Study Shows Covid-19 Antibodies Waning Over Time, Suggesting Immunity May Wear Off. https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/study-shows-covid-19-antibodies-waning-over-time-suggesting-immunity-may-wear-off/ar-BB1aqa1Z?li=BBnb7Kz

disease, Fitness, Health

Do You Require a High-Dose Flu Shot?

Leave a comment

The flu vaccine is more worthwhile than ever this year, so if you’re encountering the different versions for the first time, one of them may challenge. Yes, there is a high-dose flu vaccine, and it’s one version ideal for men and women over 65

.
Will You Need a High-Dose Flu Shot?
Do Not Let These Fables Distress You Away From a Flu Shot.
Flu shots work and are an advisable way to minimize the likelihood that you’ll find yourself sick this winter.


What does ‘high dose’ mean?
The way a vaccine function is to exhibit one’s immune system to a minimal bit of antigen. The antigen is something that the immune system can understand and later interact with; in many flu vaccines, the antigen is an influenza virus that has been killed and ripped into pieces. (That’s why the flu shot cannot give you the flu.)


As we age, our immune system sometimes doesn’t respond as strongly as it did when we were younger, so a regular flu vaccine may not spur as strong an immune response as we need for the vaccine to be effective. One way around this is to give more antigen. That’s the idea behind the high-dose shot: it just contains more of those virus pieces. Specifically, four times more.


Side effects are more frequent with the high-dose flu vaccine than with the regular kind, but they’re the same side benefits anyone might get from a flu shot, and like the regular flu shot, they are not usually serious. The CDC says: “The most frequent adverse events experienced during the clinical studies were mild and transient, and included problems, redness at the injection site, headache, muscle soreness, and malaise.”


If I’m over 65, do I need a high-dose flu shot?
The CDC says that any flu shot is fair if approved for people in your age group. But there are two flu vaccines are specifically for adults 65 and older.


The high-dose shot is one, and the other is an adjuvanted vaccine. Alternatively, of a raised dose of the antigen, it includes an adjuvant, an ingredient that makes your immune system reply more strongly. (The adjuvant, in this case, is squalene oil.)


There haven’t been randomized investigations testing these two vaccines to each other, the CDC declares. Still, indications offer that each vaccine works better for people over 65 (preventing the flu and minimizing hospital admissions) than the necessary vaccine.


Complications of the flu are most likely to be deep in older men, with those over 65 accounting for more than half of hospitalizations and over 70% of fatalities, according to a 2013 study. So flu shots are especially important in this age range.

Reference:
Do You Need a High-Dose Flu Shot?. https://vitals.lifehacker.com/do-you-need-a-high-dose-flu-shot-1845169504