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hodlboo OP t1_j8b1czz wrote

Reply to comment by Semyaz in What makes a strong immune system? by hodlboo

Sure, that makes sense. That’s what I’m interested in—not outward symptoms of being sick but the immune system’s effectiveness against viruses and bacteria.

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Supraspinator t1_j8b8ku7 wrote

Everyone has a unique „library“ of cells that fight viruses and bacteria. Which „books“ you have in your library is dependent on your parentage and the epidemiological history of your ancestors. A person can have a great variety of books fighting a specific disease, but only a few for another. So the effectiveness of someone’s immune system is not some absolute thing, but a mosaic of strengths and weaknesses.

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hodlboo OP t1_j8bgnz4 wrote

This is helpful, and makes it sound like genetics have the greatest impact on the effectiveness of an immune system in context…

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ditchdiggergirl t1_j8bk5bx wrote

As a geneticist with a little (very little) background in immunology I’m going to say, idk, maybe? Maybe not. Genes always matter, so sure. But there’s a pretty big stochastic factor with the immune system, a whole lot of environmental factors, and a ton we don’t understand. Starting with the definition of “strong immune system” - and if you can’t define that you can’t answer (or meaningfully ask) the question.

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SlickMcFav0rit3 t1_j8um26f wrote

There's also the factor of initial viral load.

Jack gets covid, has no symptoms, and only notices because his work did a random screen.

Jane gets covid and dies from lung failure.

Maybe Jack got a single viral particle and his body had plenty of time to ramp up is response but Jane got coughed on by someone chock full o virus and by the time she started producing antibodies her lungs were already saturated.

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