2 ms·
If you can get reinfected, there's a good chance that the second infection will have a particularly high mortality rate, because this virus likely has a propert
by allovernow 7y ago
If you can get reinfected, there's a good chance that the second infection will have a particularly high mortality rate, because this virus likely has a property known as antibody dependent enhancement[1]. Long story short, your normally protective antibodies actually work for the infection. This was a property of past coronaviruses like SARS and is likely why no vaccine was successfully developed.
1.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1286457920300344 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S128645792...
- sashaafm 7y agoThat means the population overall may build immunity to it?
- allovernow 7y agoWell, not exactly, it means that "immunity" may actually be dangerous or fatal. Because immunity implies release of antibodies on re-exposure, except in this case the antibodies bind to the virus, as normal, but then the virus infects much more readily, prompting the body to produce more antibodies and mount an ever greater immune response in a dangerous cycle.