• Question: will there be a coronavirus cure.

    Asked by anon-258122 to Luke, Luke on 30 Jun 2020.
    • Photo: Luke Bryden

      Luke Bryden answered on 30 Jun 2020:

      Hi! Once somebody develops COVID-19, it is not currently possible to cure them of it with medications. Instead, their immune system will do most of the work fighting off the infection and protecting their body. As part of this response, the immune system makes protein called antibodies that specifically recognise proteins on the surface of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19; COVID-19 = COrona VIrus Disease 2019). These are produced by a type of white blood cell called a ‘B cell’, which is part of the body’s immune system. Importantly, some of these B cells will ‘remember’ the SARS-CoV-2 virus. If a person is re-infected with the virus, these ‘memory B cells’ will quickly recognise it and be able to fight it off before they develop and symptoms—they may never know they were re-infected! However, because COVID-19 is so new, medical scientists are not completely sure that everyone who develops COVID-19 is protected should they come into contact with the virus again in the future. Researchers are still studying this to understand why some people are protected from future infections and others not. That is why it is really important for everyone to still be very careful to protect themselves and others from the virus, even if they have already had COVID-19 and recovered (https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus).
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      Finally, what the whole world is hoping for is a vaccine against COVID-19. There are ~150 vaccines in development at the moment, so hopefully at least one of them will prove to be effective. A vaccine to protect against COVID-19 would work by injecting part of the SARS-CoV-2 virus into the body—BUT, not the parts that would make someone develop any symptoms or get sick. This can either be a ‘weakened’ virus, meaning it is not able to multiply in the body and cause problems, or just a protein on the surface of the virus that the body can recognise and develop memory B cells against (see above).
      I hope that anwers your question!

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