20:42 - enjoy your AIDS, pošmīļi
White blood cell counts may be off, immune cells don’t
work the way they should, inflammation is higher than it should be. “Long story
short, COVID-19 leads to lasting, and possibly permanent changes in immune
cells in some, but not all, people,” McMaster University immunologist Dawn
Bowdish said.
Research is suggesting that T cells, the cells that help
produce antibodies and kill infected cells, are taking a particular hit, and
that repeated SARS-CoV-2 infections may be prematurely aging human immune systems.
The scale isn’t yet clear. However, “a potential increase in
acquired impaired immunity in the Ontario population could have significant
impact on the incidence and associated burden of infectious diseases ….and
other conditions in the longer-term,” reads the Public Health Ontario evidence
brief.
- Why we may never stop getting
COVID: What we know about reinfections and immunity
- 'Never seen a virus that behaves this way': Why COVID
refuses to give us a break
The concern is that people will be less able to hold off
future bugs and pathogens like influenza, or that unsettled immune systems
could lead to an increase in diabetes and other auto-immune diseases.