Why the coronavirus affects children much less severely than adults has become an enduring mystery of the pandemic. The vast majority of children do not get sick; when they do, they usually recover. The first study to compare the immune response in children with that in adults suggests a reason for children’s relative good fortune. In adults, the immune response is much more muted, she and her colleagues found. When the body encounters an unfamiliar pathogen, it responds within hours with a flurry of immune activity, called an innate immune response.

Source: New York Times September 25, 2020 20:03 UTC