Ayooshi Mitra, Amity University Kolkata
COVID-19 has presented various contradictions that may provide clues to control the pandemic, even before a COVID-19 vaccine is widely available. A study conducted recently by a group of researchers has shown that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is theoretically capable of protecting against COVID-19. Mumps IgG titers or antibody levels are related inversely to the severity in recovered Covid-19 patients previously vaccinated with Merck’s MMR II vaccine.
This study was conducted to understand how young children didn’t get affected by severe diseases. Secondly, numerous nations have death rates of COVID-19 that are as low as 1% of other countries’ death rates. Thirdly, many individuals never test positive in-spite of prolonged close contact with someone who is COVID-19 positive. Finally, nearly half of those who are COVID-19 positive are asymptomatic. In the study, 80 individuals were divided into two groups for comparison between MMR titers to severity levels of Covid-19. The MMR II group consisted of 50 subjects with primary MMR antibodies from the MMR II vaccine and a comparison group of 30 with primary MMR antibodies from sources besides MMR II, including previous diseases of measles, mumps, or rubella. Within the MMR II group, there was an inverse correlation between mumps titers to that of the severity of virus where age didn’t prove to be a cause. COVID-19 case occurrence is seven times lower in young children than in adults. The preclinical and post-clinical management of COVID-19 infections will certainly be affected if MMR II is proven to be effective against COVID-19 in the short or long term. During the development and testing of monovalent COVID-19 vaccines, the association between MMR II and COVID-19 may also warrant consideration, as the previous immune status of a patient, including previous vaccinations, may need to be considered when assessing disease prevention.
Also read: Cigarette smoking (CS) encourages SARS-CoV-2 infection!
References:
- Jeffrey E. Gold, William H. Baumgartl, Ramazan A. Okyay, Warren E. Licht, Paul L. Fidel Jr., Mairi C. Noverr, Larry P. Tilley, David J. Hurley, Balázs Rada, John W. Ashford. Analysis of measles-mumps-Rubella (MMR) Titers of recovered COVID-19 patients. mBio Nov 2020, 11 (6) e02628-20; DOI: 10.1128/mBio.02628-20
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