Quote:
Originally Posted by Sephiroth
Can those of you with some knowledge about viruses fill in some gaps on stuff we're not told?
1/
We are told that younger people retain CV antibodies for longer than older people. The deduction made from what we're told is that older people remain susceptible to serious consequences of a second infection.
2/
Let us say that an older person in their mid 70s can shake a cold off in a couple of days. Are they likely to be typical of that age group or luckier?
3/
By corollary, is an older person who is able to shake off a cold in two days in a better position to generate CV antibodies than less cold-shake-off-able people?
Thanks in advance for your opinions.
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Sorry to be very late with an answer (I have a sick kid at the moment)
What you are saying is broadly right. An older person who shakes of other viral diseases is thought to be more likely to have a better immune response.
The effectiveness of shaking off a bug is related to the persons general health and nutrition along with the health of the immune system. As we age, there is an effect called immunosenescence which is the aging of the immune system. This affects both cellular and humoral immunity. Cellular immunity is the ‘T-cell response’ broadly. This can be specific or non-specific. Non specific is where a cell says it is infected and says ‘help’ to the immune system, bringing in cells that will kill the infected cell and cause inflammation. After infection, you get specific responses where immune cells will remember the infected cells.
Humoral immunity are the antibodies. These are made by another group of immune cells called B cells.
Both T and B cells have the same precursor (haematopoietic stem cells) so as these cells age, this can impact the whole immune system. Therefore, your ‘cellular age’ is important. As the immune system ages, both the quantity and quality of the cells will drop, along with the antibodies they produce in the case of B cells. Some people age gracefully, some wither. It’s the same for the immune system.
Immunology is very complicated which is why I became a microbiologist. Much simpler....