A leading medic has explained why some people don't catch Covid-19. She said there were four main reasons why some people are immune - and said a new study has been launched to dig deeper.
Speaking on the Claire Byrne TV show in Ireland, Dublin-based immunologist Dr Cliona O'Farrelly said some people have managed to escape contracting Covid-19 during due to their socio-economic background, general good health, careful behaviour and a rare innate immune response.
Dr O'Farrelly, who is also a professor of comparative immunology and biochemistry at immunology at Trinity College, said: "How people live has got a lot to do with their circumstances and then on top of that then is this percentage of people who have what we would call an innate immune signature, that's what we're looking for.
The innate immune signature that identifies the resistance so I think those four things are really important - your socio-economic status, your general health wellbeing, how you behave and then this innate resistance." Dr O'Farrelly has also for several years worked on a study about women who contracted Hepatitis C through blood transplants and why some women did not contract the virus.