Thread by @sailorrooscout

We know individuals who recover from SARS-CoV-2 infections develop effective T-cell immunity. A new study in Nature finds individuals are able to gain T-cell memory in the absence of a detectable infection simply from exposure!
nature.com/articles/s4146…

Here researchers reported virus-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell memory in recovered COVID-19 patients and close contacts. Data showed that the memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells of 94.44% and 83.33%, respectively, of the COVID-19 patients successfully underwent expansion.

Their results indicated that most of the recovered COVID-19 patients had developed effective T-cell memory pools against SARS-CoV-2 and their close contacts to a lesser degree. The proliferation capacity, size and quality of T-cell responses in close contacts were also readily

distinguishable from healthy donors, suggesting close contacts are able to gain T-cell immunity against SARS-CoV-2 despite lacking a detectable infection. Additionally, asymptomatic and symptomatic COVID-19 patients contain similar levels of SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell memory.

This study demonstrates exactly how effective your T-cells are at protecting you, even more so when boosted further by a vaccine, and explains what might occur in a shared household. Immunological memory is top-tier. B-cells/antibodies are only one part of your immune response.

Remember immunological memory consists of antibodies, memory B-cells, memory CD8+ T-cells, and memory CD4+ T-cells. These responses together in unison are what give us enduring protection even against newly emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants.