Nancy Lapid

(Reuters) – The following summarizes recent research on COVID-19. There are some research results that require further analysis to verify the findings, and others that were not yet certified by peer review.

The Delta variant doesn’t seem to make kids sicker

According to a UK study, the Delta form of coronavirus doesn’t seem to be more dangerous for children than the earlier versions. Researchers earlier this year found that children infected with the Alpha version of the virus were not sicker than those who had been exposed to it. The new data shows that Delta is not more harmful to children than Alpha. Two groups of children aged school with COVID-19 were compared: 706 who had been infected by Delta and 694 with Alpha between December 2020 and May 2021. Children infected by Delta showed slightly different symptoms, as reported Thursday morning on medRxiv https:// before peer review. However, in both cases of Delta infection, there were very few hospitalizations and no long-term illness. Both groups saw half the children being sick for less than five days. Researchers did not know if there were differences in the outcomes between groups. For example, whether there was a lockdown or if different seasons had an impact on the results. The researchers concluded that the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in children due to the Delta mutation are very similar to those due to other variants. This seems to be in line with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) data. “Although there are more cases among children… these research demonstrated that children did not suffer from an increased degree of disease severity,” Dr. Rochelle Wilensky, Director at CDC, stated in a statement about the Delta-driven wave. Because there are more diseases in the area, COVID-19 is increasing among children.

After infection, secondary immune responses are stronger than those following vaccination

New research has shown that COVID-19 survivors have memory cells which, while important for the body’s immune reaction, keep evolving and getting stronger for several months. They produce highly potent antibodies capable of neutralizing new viruses. By comparison, vaccine-induced memory B cells are less robust, evolving for only a few weeks and never “learning” to protect against variants, researchers reported in a paper published on Thursday in Nature https://go.nature.com/3AjGx2B. COVID-19 vaccines induce greater antibodies than after coronavirus infections. The immune system seems to have a better memory of B cells than vaccines. No matter if antibodies were induced from infection or vaccination, many people see a drop in their antibody levels within six months. The body’s memory cells can still produce antibodies, however, if it encounters the virus. There was little evidence to compare vaccine-induced cells to those from infection before this study. However, the researchers warn that COVID-19 has risks and benefits. Michel Nussenzweig, Rockefeller University’s study leader, stated that a natural infected person may cause maturation of antibodies which have a greater activity than vaccines. However, natural infections can still kill. The vaccine does not prevent serious illnesses or deaths from infections.

Click for a Reuters graphic https://tmsnrt.rs/3c7R3Bl on vaccines in development.