Abstract
The discovery of T-cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 in non-infected individuals indicates cross-reactive immune memory from prior exposure to human coronaviruses (HCoV) that cause the common cold. This raises the possibility that “immunity” could exist within populations at rates that may be higher than serology studies estimate. Besides specialized research labs, however, there is limited ability to measure HCoV CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection, which currently impedes interpretation of any potential correlation between COVID-19 disease pathogenesis and the calibration of pandemic control measures. Given this limited testing ability, an alternative approach would be to exploit the large cohort of currently available data from which statistically significant associations may be generated. This would necessitate the merging of several public databases including patient and contact tracing, which could be created by relevant public health organizations. Including data from both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients in SARS-CoV-2 databases and surveillance systems could provide the necessary information to allow for more informed decisions.
Highlights
ASYMPTOMATIC INFECTION IN DENSE POPULATIONSIt is most curious that the majority of poor, highly populated countries have seen fewer deaths per million during the current pandemic than most advanced Western nations
An intriguing possibility is that cross-reactive T-cells generated in response to human coronaviruses (HCoV)-related colds may be present at a higher prevalence within the younger population due to exposure in school environments (Arroll, 2011; Steinman et al, 2020)
Searches of relevant publicly available databases, including the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre, National Institutes of Health Open-Access Data and Computational Resources to Address COVID-19, CDC World Dataset, The Covid-19 Tracking Project, Florida Department of Health, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 1Point3Acres, and others, revealed a lack of information relating to the severity of symptoms, possibly related to lower testing rates in highly populated or developing countries for individuals who are asymptomatic
Summary
ASYMPTOMATIC INFECTION IN DENSE POPULATIONSIt is most curious that the majority of poor, highly populated countries have seen fewer deaths per million during the current pandemic than most advanced Western nations. The discovery of T-cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 in non-infected individuals indicates cross-reactive immune memory from prior exposure to human coronaviruses (HCoV) that cause the common cold. There is limited ability to measure HCoV CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection, which currently impedes interpretation of any potential correlation between COVID-19 disease pathogenesis and the calibration of pandemic control measures.
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