A year in our understanding of COVID‐19

• Published in: Clinical & Experimental Immunology Vol. 202; no. 2; pp. 146 - 148
• Main Author: Thwaites, R. S.
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: England Oxford University Press 01.11.2020; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized - therapeutic use; Betacoronavirus - physiology; Blood Coagulation; Collection: COVID‐19; Complement System Proteins - metabolism; Coronavirus Infections - immunology; Coronavirus Infections - prevention & control; Coronavirus Infections - therapy; COVID-19; COVID-19 Vaccines; Humans; Immunotherapy - methods; Interferon Type I - immunology; Pandemics - prevention & control; Pneumonia, Viral - immunology; Pneumonia, Viral - prevention & control; Pneumonia, Viral - therapy; Receptors, Interleukin-6 - immunology; SARS-CoV-2; Viral Vaccines - immunology
• ISSN: 0009-9104; 1365-2249
• DOI: 10.1111/cei.13538

Using multivariate analysis, age and socio‐economic status were determined to be independent risk factors for severe disease, in line with other studies [3, 9]. While this may indicate that BCG vaccine history is not a major determinant of COVID‐19 severity, the relatively small size of this data set (n = 123 hospitalized patients) may require confirmation in larger‐scale population studies. The humoral immune response to SARS‐CoV‐2 may be a crucial determinant of viral clearance and could act as a correlate of protection following natural infection or vaccine‐mediated immune responses. Additionally, antibody testing is essential for understanding the rate of infection in the population through the use of public health serosurveillance, and therefore accurately determining populations at risk of severe disease and the absolute case fatality rate.