3 ms·
Tiny exposure to covid (by passing somebody on the street) is exceptionally unlikely to make you sick, but it will help your immune system recognize the enemy.
by gizmo 6y ago
Tiny exposure to covid (by passing somebody on the street) is exceptionally unlikely to make you sick, but it will help your immune system recognize the enemy. This builds partial immunity and if you get exposed for real at some later point your immune system will be able to kick into gear right away.
- pas 6y agoHas this been demonstrated? Is this true? Is this really how the immune system works?
- gizmo 6y agoYes, for instance in this 2015 study on influenza: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4342672/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4342672/ Higher initial dose results in worse outcomes. Low dose still helps build immunity. Covid19 should be assumed to work like other RTIs. (This is also why obsessively washing your hands and cleaning your house with bleach isn't a good idea, because being in too sterile an environment harms your immune system.)
- pas 6y agoWow, conducting this study (and the IRB review) must have been great. Hm, okay, at first I just saw the very linear response and wasn't sure how that translates low dose still helps build immunity, but then went back and read your comment up thread, which captures it better: the partial sickness gives partial immunity, thus "priming" the body for the full-blown thing. Though getting the active transmission rate down could be more important in some places.