What is it that the elderly are infected with the flu?

Infections in the elderly are rare and rarely get immunity to the virus after vaccination because their body stops producing various antibodies.

"The interaction of older people with newer influenza viruses has proven worse than others because their antibody-producing cells are no longer flexible enough," says Dr. Patrick Wilson of the University of Chicago in an article in the journal Cell Host & Microbiome. Vaccines take this into account and create a vaccine that can also protect the elderly from infection. "

The researchers took blood samples from 12 elderly volunteers and 30 young volunteers vaccinated before the flu. The researchers extracted "plasma cells" from these samples, which are a special subtype of B cells, do not recognize pathogens, but produce enough known antibodies.

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The researchers published these antibodies and observed the reaction of their protein molecules during the emergence of various types of influenza viruses, including avian and swine flu.

In the elderly, B cells produce a small amount of relatively weak antibodies, which react to a wide range of viruses. The "plasma cells" of young people produce a large amount of different antibodies whose role is to fight against a particular type of influenza virus.

Wilson points out that this particularity of B cells in the elderly shows at the same time why they do not affect the different vaccines and reveal the reason they repeated the flu.

Source: Novosti