March 30, 2021

Verified infections with endemic common cold coronaviruses do not entail significant protection against SARS-CoV-2

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Vaccines and Immunity

Keywords (Tags): immunity

• A previous confirmed seasonal coronavirus infection does not appear to provide protection against subsequent infection with SARS-CoV-2, according to analysis of a large database of respiratory specimens in Sweden. The analysis is based on a database of >75,000 respiratory specimens collected from 2013-2020 and linked to 10,000 samples collected during the pandemic (February-November 2020). There was substantial overlap in the patient population between the two cohorts, allowing the authors to determine whether a previous PCR confirmed coronavirus infection was associated with a reduced likelihood of a subsequent SARS-CoV-2 infection. They found no relationship between a prior coronavirus infection and subsequent SARS-CoV-2 infection when compared to previous infection with the immunologically unrelated rhinovirus, including when restricting their analysis to either alpha or beta-coronaviruses. Additionally, they found no relationship with either viral load or hospitalization (although only 20 participants were hospitalized with COVID-19). 

Ringlander et al. (Mar 29, 2021). Verified infections with endemic common cold coronaviruses do not entail significant protection against SARS-CoV-2. Journal of Infectious Disease. https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiab089