A new study has found that infant immune systems are better than adults’ when it comes to fighting off viruses and infections. When we think of a newborn baby, we often see them as new, fragile and vulnerable. Moms protect the health of their baby and have visitors wash hands and stay away if they are not feeling well. They don’t want their baby to get sick when they are still working on building their immune system. While this may be true, infants may be stronger than we give them credit for and studies are always being done to see just how strong they are.

According to Study Finds, a new study was done that has shown that the immune system of an infant is likely stronger than we think, and it may even be stronger than adults in some ways. The study was done by Columbia University, and it can be read in full here.

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This study may also help to explain why infants seem to be better protected against COVID-19, with the rates of hospitalizations and deaths in this age group remaining consistently low throughout the entire pandemic.

Donna Farber was one of the researchers on the study, and she stated that the comparison between an infant's immune system and an adult is not “quite fair.” While babies are known for getting a lot of respiratory illnesses, like the flu and RSV when compared to adults, their immune systems are encountering these viruses for the first time. The reason you can’t make a fair comparison is that adults’ immune systems have learned over time and exposure how to fight them, so that is why you don’t see a lot of adults violently ill from these viruses. Infants are experiencing them for the first time, which is why they can present in a very serious manner.

To complete the study, the researchers only looked at an infant’s immune system’s ability to fight new pathogens. They looked at T cells from infants and mice, and then they exposed the cells to a new virus. When they looked at how the cells responded to the virus, the infant's T cells did a much better job at fighting the virus and they “won.” The infant cells were able to move faster and travel longer to get to the site of the infection and start working to beat the virus very quickly. This may be reassuring for parents who are worried about their baby getting sick.

Sources: Study Finds, Eureka Alert