Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2022 May 1

= May 1 =

what is transmission immunity?
Hi! What is "transmission immunity"? Is it another term for "sterile immunity"? And: How can it get weaker, while the same (or a quite similar virus) is still around? Background: Prof. Drosten (Charité Berlin in F.Rep.Germ.) wrote on twitter, that it is to be expected that after 4 months the transmission immunity starts to disappear (source: 2022-04-27 tweet)... Thx. Bye. --Homer Landskirty (talk) 11:39, 1 May 2022 (UTC)


 * We can only guess why he used this term; it is not a commonly used term in English, and neither is the German term Übertragungsimmunität. It appears to just mean "immunity" (in the context, of course, specifically resistance to being infected by transmission of the virus, which is how COVID-19 spreads). --Lambiam 15:32, 1 May 2022 (UTC)
 * ok... and how can immunity be reduced during an ongoing attack by admittedly similar versions of that virus? i think they call it "cross-immunity"... some even claim that there was cross-immunity from the very beginning of the SARS-CoV-2-"outbreak"... i thought, that the immune system can "remember" the "contruction plan" of an anti-body for later use... it just takes some time to fetch it and setup the "construction centers"... furthermore that professor circumvented the 500(?) characters rule by replying to his own tweet 8 times... is that somehow so worrisome, that one should inform the authorities? or can i expect that the police has a close look at his cassibers publications already? --Homer Landskirty (talk) 19:43, 1 May 2022 (UTC)
 * How well the immunological memory keeps working with the passage of time depends on the pathogen, but in any case it diminishes. An "ongoing attack" by a closely related pathogen does not stop that process in individuals who are not infected by it – which will be most if the reproduction number is not very high. --Lambiam 07:16, 2 May 2022 (UTC)
 * ok... so some people left that magenta-phase in that image... and now some people might be in that greenish phase with "mild or inapparent symptoms"... --Homer Landskirty (talk) 19:50, 2 May 2022 (UTC)
 * It means part of your automobile does not need to be vaccinated. Clarityfiend (talk) 00:52, 2 May 2022 (UTC)
 * giggle --Homer Landskirty (talk) 19:50, 2 May 2022 (UTC)