Why the coronavirus affects children much less severely than adults has become an enduring mystery of the pandemic. The vast majority of children do not get sick; when they do, they usually recover.<\/p>\n
The first study to compare the immune response in children with that in adults suggests a reason for children\u2019s relative good fortune. In children, a branch of the immune system that evolved to protect against unfamiliar pathogens rapidly destroys the coronavirus before it wreaks damage on their bodies<\/a>, according to the research, published this week in Science Translational Medicine.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bottom line is, yes, children do respond differently immunologically to this virus, and it seems to be protecting the kids,\u201d said Dr. Betsy Herold, a pediatric infectious disease expert at Albert Einstein College of Medicine who led the study.<\/p>\n In adults, the immune response is much more muted, she and her colleagues found.<\/p>\n Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n How do children fight off the coronavirus? The secret may lie in an \u201cinnate\u201d immune response that targets unrecognized invaders, scientists say.https:\/\/t.co\/nJyNlXt6kr<\/a><\/p>\n — The New York Times (@nytimes) September 26, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n