During chats with my mother over our current of affairs, she discussed reading a National Geographic article that said that scientists found 1918-19 Spanish Flu survivors(1) retained the same antibody immunities nearly a century later.

My mother expressed the thought that maybe those descendants from those survivors might possibly carry those antibodies, and might possibly be the carriers of the COVID-19 virus, walking around with the sniffles or nothing at all? I thought that may be a little far fetched, but then looked online and saw while Montana was the 4th worst hit per capita on terms of 1918 flu deaths, 2020 Montana is one of the top states to ready to reopen due its low and declining infection rate.

So what do you think? While this does not help us with our current condition, I think this should be looked at. Maybe it is true, antibiotics could be further developed.

And yes I know the difference between the influenza and corona family of viruses.

(Ducking, waiting for a medical professional to tell me to stick to engineering).

1. Note to my slow-witted Trump-loving friends. "Survivor" refers to those who got infected with the virus and recovered to live. Not those who lived in the middle of nowhere in 1919 and never got sick. I am sorry I have to spell it out like this in detail, but you know, FOX News and all.

Gunnar Emilsson wrote:

During chats with my mother over our current of affairs, she discussed reading a National Geographic article that said that scientists found 1918-19 Spanish Flu survivors(1) retained the same antibody immunities nearly a century later.

My mother expressed the thought that maybe those descendants from those survivors might possibly carry those antibodies, and might possibly be the carriers of the COVID-19 virus, walking around with the sniffles or nothing at all? ...

IANAD. However, ...

A. As you indicated, the "1918 Spanish Flu" and the "2019 Novel Coronavirus" are different viruses. Just as HIV and Ebola are different viruses. Apples and oranges.

B. Mothers do not pass antibodies to her children (or more accurately, her grandchildren). Once a baby's immune system starts working, it destroys any antibodies passed to it by their mother.

C. Antibiotics won't treat viral infections because they can't kill viruses.

D. No virus has ever been cured in the entire history of Earth. I don't expect that to change anytime soon.

This discussion made me think of the claim that some people seem to be immune to the Norovirus.

The observation that certain individuals appear to have an inherited factor making them more susceptible or resistant to common infections is not new. Indeed, most of us know individuals who are more frequently ill than others or, the opposite, who are seldom ill. However, not long ago it was assumed that the clinical outcome of an infectious disease was due mainly to virulence factors associated with the microorganism, and little attention was given to host genetics. We are just starting to understand the complex interplay between environmental (microbial and nonmicrobial) and human (genetic and nongenetic) factors that determine immunity to infection or the resulting outcome of an infection. Studies of host genetics effects on susceptibility to infectious diseases have increased rapidly during the last few years. Knowledge of how our genes affect the risk of infection or severe disease provides insight into the pathophysiology of certain virus, immune responses required for protection, and possible targets for vaccine or antiviral treatment.

...

Read more here.

PLOS.ORG: Why doesn’t everyone get sick with winter vomiting disease?

While the coronavirus and influenza virus are different, they are both RNA viruses that cause a respiratory infection and are spread by respiratory droplets (Ebola and HIV are also both RNA viruses, but cause much different diseases). So comparing the respective pandemics caused by coronavirus and the flu isn't a bad comparison. Influenza virus is typically more virulent and causes a more severe disease. Although, as mentioned, genetic factors and overall health of the host will definitely have an effect on response and ability to recover from the infection. A pandemic caused by a novel influenza virus would make the current pandemic look like a walk in the park. The current situation really should be considered a dress rehearsal. I would suggest it hasn't gone well.

The development of new antibiotics is always a good idea. Many of the deaths from a viral respiratory infection are caused by secondary bacterial pneumonia. Trump mentioned this a couple weeks ago. But as usual, he didn't articulate his point and sounded like he thought antibiotics would cure a viral infection (maybe he did, who knows with that clown). Then had a temper tantrum.

And while no virus has ever been cured, it is possible to eradicate them from the human population. Smallpox being the only example. Polio is close to being eradicated.