One of the ways that researchers in Melbourne are finding ways to cure COVID-19 is to test the coronavirus immune response of patients. This path is getting investigated to find ways to devise ways to come to a cure for patients suffering from the pathogen.
Some of these tests were centered on a 47-year old woman, wherein researchers took blood samples four times during the day. Data showed that she produced white anti-bodies, which pinpointed cells that were infected. Observed results were increased production of anti-bodies that allowed a 10-day recovery, after having a mild to moderate illness that forced hospital treatment on her.
According to the Journal Nature Medicine on Monday, with several studies by scientists at Melbourne's Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity who are helping to identify immune-system patterns, to provide clues that doctors can use to detect, they need samples from one in five patients that will be admitted because of developing more severe or critical forms of COVID-19. However, not much is known and doctors are racing to prevent further infections worldwide.
Katherine Kedzierska, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Melbourne said," We will need to analyze many Covid-19 patients." She further commented,"But it is possible that having all the data, we might find immune markers predicting recovery, which would be really important to know which patients are at risk of severe Covid-19 disease when they get admitted to the hospital." She is also one of the authors of the study at the University of Melbourne. The important thing is detecting the coronavirus immune response.
The patient came from the Wuhan, where the coronavirus started. Returning from China, she got ill in Melbourne where she was taken to the hospital. Doctors detected an inflammation response to the 'then' coronavirus that became the COVID-19 disease. It was noted that her response to the viral pathogen was not to disintegrate healthy tissue.
According to Dr Kedzierska, whose specialty is the immune response to viral pathogens, the female patient's inflammation was controlled. There was no overabundance of the cytokines and chemokines proteins during the inflammation which can get uncontrolled.
The scientists could detect antibodies against COVID-19 in the patient's blood stream. These natural defenses fended of the infection, before her symptoms were resolved. This pointed out an "immunological memory" of the pathogen. Further investigation into what happened to the anti-body response can keep the infection from resurfacing and how much time it will take to symptoms again.
Results of the study will help to track an effective vaccine from many anti-vaccines for a cure, said the researchers.
Other factors that may help is knowing what immune cells are likely to develop when exposed to the virus. WIth that, this can be used to develop a vaccine. Also, more people are getting better as if just having a flu.
Discovering the anti-bodies is a start in knowing how to cure it, but it is also important to know the coronavirus response of the body, added study co-author Prof Katherine Kedzierska.
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