You’ve probably observed that some folks get the flu whereas others don’t. Maybe you realize somebody who takes preventive measures to fend off the flu however nonetheless will get it, whereas others appear to go season after season with out experiencing even a slight cough. Could their immune system have a novel capability to struggle off the virus? Here, medical doctors provide some perception.
Are some folks much less prone to the flu than others?
The reply is … possibly. “This is a great question that applies to any infectious disease beyond influenza,” Dr. Jonathan D. Grein, director of hospital epidemiology at Cedars-Sinai, tells Yahoo Life. “The short answer is we don’t usually know why some people get sicker than others. The longer answer is there are many complex factors that go into how the immune system responds to an infection.”
For starters, those that are immunocompromised as a result of a preexisting well being situation have an elevated threat of falling unwell, he explains. A research revealed within the journal the Lancet found that survivors of sure most cancers sorts — together with leukemia, lymphoma and a number of myeloma — usually tend to have severe issues from the flu as much as 10 years after receiving their analysis.
Age performs a job as properly. Adults 65 years of age and older can have a weaker immune response to flu vaccines, making them extra more likely to get sick with the flu or get flu issues even when vaccinated, in response to the CDC. Flu issues embody bacterial pneumonia, ear infections and sinus infections and may make different well being situations, resembling diabetes, bronchial asthma and congestive coronary heart failure, worse.
Lifestyle can even have an effect on one’s immunity. “For example, smoking or excessive alcohol consumption can weaken the immune system, making an individual more susceptible to infections like the flu,” Dr. John Whyte, chief medical officer of WebMD and a former director on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, tells Yahoo Life. “Plus, high levels of stress, lack of adequate sleep and a diet lacking in essential nutrients can compromise the body’s natural defenses, making one more prone to catching the flu and having a harder time fighting it.”
He provides that publicity to the virus is one more issue. “People who are frequently in close contact with others, such as those working in schools or health care settings, may have a higher exposure to flu viruses and may develop some immunity,” explains Whyte.
Genetics play a major position
Whyte says that genetics additionally have an effect on how an individual’s immune system responds to the flu virus. “Some individuals may have genetic variations that make their immune systems less effective at fighting off influenza,” he explains.
A brand new research revealed within the journal Science discovered variations in how numerous populations reply to influenza. After gathering cells from males of European and African genetic ancestry and exposing these cells to the flu virus, the investigators decided that the cells of these with European ancestry displayed a rise within the exercise of sort I interferons — proteins which are essential for preventing viral infections — throughout the starting part of an infection.
“Inducing a strong type I interferon pathway response early upon infection stops the virus from replicating and may therefore have a direct impact on the body’s ability to control the virus,” stated Luis Barreiro, senior research creator and affiliate professor of drugs on the University of Chicago, in a press launch. This may additionally assist clarify why influenza outcomes can differ between racial teams, in response to the researchers, who be aware that Black women and men have greater hospitalization charges for the flu.
But this isn’t the one research that has analyzed the flu’s interplay with the immune system. Biologists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found {that a} single mutation in a flu virus can provide it the facility to flee 90% of 1 individual’s antibody immunity, however not one other’s.
Dr. Linda Yancey, an infectious ailments specialist at Memorial Hermann hospital, tells Yahoo Life: “Everyone’s immune system is unique to them alone and is as different from anyone else’s as our genome,” which is the complete set of DNA directions positioned in a cell. “Different people will have different immune responses to different pathogens,” she says. “There is no such thing as an identical immune response across a population.”
Can you’ve the flu and never have signs?
Keep in thoughts that it’s potential to be contaminated with influenza and have minimal to no signs, notes Grein. “It is generally accepted that about 20% to 30% of people will be asymptomatic or with minimal symptoms, but other studies have shown that that number is much higher, anywhere from 50% to 75%,” he says.
And sure, somebody who doesn’t really feel sick with the flu may very well be contagious. “We know that people infected with influenza tend to begin excreting the virus from the respiratory tract one to two days before their symptoms begin,” says Grein. “So we can extrapolate that asymptomatic people are probably infectious. But it’s not well defined exactly how infectious they are.”
This is without doubt one of the most important the explanation why all well being care staff are required to get the flu shot each fall, says Yancey. “We do not want to pass along a virus that we don’t know we have to our immunocompromised patients.”
Annual flu pictures assist
Regardless of how robust you may assume your immune system is, all three physicians strongly encourage the annual flu shot. “Even when the flu vaccine is not 100% protective — and it usually isn’t — it still can make infection less serious,” says Whyte.
Yancey estimates that about 5 sufferers from her observe die every year from influenza pneumonia. “These patients tend to be males in their 30s, 40s and 50s,” she says. “It doesn’t occur to a lot of working-age men that they need a flu shot, which leaves this population vulnerable to severe disease and death. If not for you, then please get the flu shot for your kids.”
Influenza predictably circulates yearly and predictably causes extreme sickness and dying in tens of 1000’s of Americans yearly, says Grein. “The argument of, ‘Well, I never get sick from the flu, so I don’t need the vaccine,’ sounds a bit like someone saying, ‘I’ve never been in a car accident so why should I wear a seat belt?’” he says. “Flu vaccines are one the most widely studied and safest vaccines we have and are the best tool to protect us from the most severe complications of the virus.”
And so far as why some folks appear to have the facility to evade the flu, Grein says there isn’t any definitive reply — but. “There are a lot of variables that go into the complexity of the immune response, which is why there remain a lot of questions.”
