AHMEDABAD: The third wave of Covid-19 in Gujarat and India, largely caused by the dominant Omicron variant, is advancing swiftly with a high number of daily cases.
Even those who were infected earlier or are fully vaccinated are getting caught in the wave due to the immune-escape nature of the variant. But what exactly is the reason behind low severity and mortality? One of the answers could be found in the fact that the T-cells or long-term memory cells of the body’s immune system are better equipped to tackle Covid, said scientific experts participating in a session on ‘T-cell immunity and Covid-19’.
The event was organized by the Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar (IIPH-G) and Institute of Science at Nirma University. The speakers for the event included Dr Sarat Dalai, Dr Amit Awasthi, and Dr Sunil Kumar Raghav. The session was moderated by Dr Senthil Natesan, associate professor at IIPH-G.
Dr Awasthi spoke about cellular immunity and Covid-19. He shared his experience of checking the immune response in a large number of individuals with mild, moderate and severe Covid infection.
The findings revealed that the immune response was proportional to the level of infection. He also explained how different barriers across early infection mediated response – both from the antibodies and T-cells. He said that the new vaccines against Covid would have to integrate elements from various variants to keep it potent against future mutations.
On T-cell immunity against natural infection and vaccinations, he said that when a lot of people are recovering without adequate acquired antibodies, the T cell immunity comes into the picture. He said that the T-cells can clear the infection early on, so that the disease doesn’t take a severe form, thus helping in early recovery.
Dr Raghav also spoke about asymptomatic contacts of Covid infected patients and said that they have found protective immune signatures. The asymptomatic patients had a high chance of getting the disease, but they did not. It showed that the cytokine profile of the people with and without disease were different. The benefits primarily came from the T-cell response as they somehow prevented the severe infection.
